Night will fall and the dark will rise
by amusingmistake
Summary: The Reapers have arrived and the galaxy is staring into the abyss. Normally the crew of the Normandy wouldn't stand a chance, but the mysterious appearances of a Jedi, The Doctor and River Song to fight a common enemy might just be enough to turn the tide of the war. Shepard/Williams, Liara/OC. AU in places
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own Mass Effect, Star Wars or Doctor Who. They are owned by Bioware/EA, Lucasarts and BBC/BBC Wales (BBC Cymru) respectively.

**10th April 2187 (Earth Calender)**

**10:00 zulu**

**Sol System**

_"... Alliance Fleet Reporting, Turian Fleet Reporting, Asari Fleets reporting..."_

"_..Quarian Fleet Accounted for and Ready.."_

"_.. Geth Fleet Reporting... All Fleets Reported in Commander"_

"_This is Commander Shepard. All fleets fire on my order."_

Colonel Dulius' X-Wing hovered several million kilometres away from Earth, running dark. From this extreme distance it was impossible to see what was going on unless one of the really big ships exploded, and even then the detonation was a tiny blip on the inky black of space. The force, however, was thick with fear, hope, anger and many other emotions from the aliens that despite his months of experience and exposure with the various non-human cultures of this galaxy. It also contained the gut-churning evil he'd come to know as the reapers, only the visions of when the Voxyn hunted the Jedi compared to that sensation.

_Relax Kir. Embrace Eternity_

"..ogue Three, four lit and at 100 percent."

"Rogue Two, all systems are green."

Kir checked his readouts on the main screen, and keyed the comm.

"Rogue Leader, on station. All fighters, all ships; Prepare for combat micro-jump. Power weapons, raise shields, lock s-foils into attack position. And may the force be with us all.

_What was that poem River told me? Demons run when a good man goes to war... it was about Doctor, the 'last' of the time lords. Perhaps I should have told him, it's almost certainly too late now._

Kir, knowing there was nothing he could do now, threw the hyperspace lever and watched the stars stretch.


	2. New Arrivals Part 1

**Authors Note: Apologies for this taking so long, hopefully won't be so long before I update this **

"_Looks like a gun-shot wound to the abdomen. The armour seems to have taken the brunt of the force, but there is still a lot of bleeding to deal with. Doctor, get us out of here!"_

_River looked up from the entrance of the TARDIS to see the Doctor desperately trying to work out where exactly they where._

"_You've not listened to a word I've been saying.. the TARDIS doesn't have any information about that planet, or even this solar system. I've got a date and I think we're in the Milky Way, but the tech is totally wrong..."_

"_Wrong or not Doctor, on the other side of that door is a nuclear weapon that is about to detonate. I'm not even sure that the TARDIS could deal with that kind of punishment this close to the blast."_

_The Doctor looked from River to the control console and threw a few levers and pressed some buttons._

"_Ok.. slightly random co-ordinates, should get us out of the immediate area, and then we can work out just what is going on here."_

* * *

**3rd August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**21:10 zulu**

**On board SSV Normandy**

Shepard, perched on the workbench, looking into the hold proper barely heard the elevator door open behind him, nor the soft footsteps of either Liara or Chakwas. He was utterly transfixed by the display of hand-to-hand ability that the Normandy's new guest was displaying especially as only Twelve hours ago they'd pulled him out of his drifting fighter. Having first put Vega down for the count, he had accepted a challenge from Garrus and the poor Turian looked like some kind of drunken brawler, not the veteran C-Sec and ex-Military officer that he was. This man, Kir Dulius, moved like water and blocked with speed that blurred. Shepard suspected the only reason Garrus was still in this fight was that Kir didn't know how to put a Turian down easily.

"Shepard. I've had some news from Huerta."

"What is it Doc?"

"The Major is starting to make a recovery. He's been in and out of consciousness for the last few hours and last time he was asking after you."

"Anything else?"

"I wanted to check on our guest. Some his genetic make up is strange, and he shouldn't be physically able to do what he's doing. He was out cold for nearly a week as far as I can tell, but he woke nearly instantly once he was in sickbay. I only know of one human who could get away with that kind of punishment, and you've got extensive cybernetics specifically designed to keep you alive."

"Once he's finished here, I'll see if I can get him talking. Certainly a lot of stuff he can tell us. And what about you Liara? Thought you'd be trying to get Javik to speak more about the Prothean civilisation."

Liara looked down at Shepard, and then slowly back to the match that was finally starting to wind down.

"Javik... isn't what I was expecting or hoping for. I came down here because I was curious. Even with the Shadow Broker's connections, this man, Kir Dulius, doesn't exist anywhere."

Liara looked back over to the where Kir was helping Garrus get back up. He was fairly well built, just over 6 foot in height, with fairly short, dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes. The only thing that didn't speak "Military" about his person was the stubble on his face. Liara also noticed his movements where strange, at least in a human solider. Even when he wasn't fighting, his movements where graceful and fluid, yet controlled and precise at the same time.

* * *

"_**You are nothing compared to us. The forces of the universe bend to my will. We are your salvation through your destruction."**_

"_I am no mere human. I am a Jedi Knight and a warrior.. and none shall pass!"_

_Kir looked around what was left of the street he was standing on. He could feel re-enforcements at the edge of his perceptions, but with the fighting as intense as it was he knew they would easily take a while to get there. He looked at his comrades, two other Jedi, barely Knighted, a powerful Asari justicar, a small human woman with tattoos, and a brown pony tail, and the Prothean crew member from Shepard's ship. _

"_We have to hold here! We need to buy more time for Shepard and his team."_

_The Asari looked at Kir, like the rest of them she had scratches and her armour showed damage caused by the constant running battle over the last few hours. Kir imagined he didn't look much better, his tunic was torn in several places, and he could feel where a cut on his face had dried. He knew each one would fight to the last to hold the line. The justicar had sworn an oath to Shepard, and the Knights knew their lives where dedicated to protecting those who couldn't protect themselves. The last two in the group.. Kir knew they wanted to fight, and the Prothean in particular wanted vengeance for his species. Kir had spent enough time around Javik in the previous 8 months to understand and respect the reasons, if not accept them._

"_Can we really last that long. There are hundr..."_

"_**I will show you true power. You should fear me."**_

_Kir looked back to where the giant Reaper sat, protected by hordes of their troops. Mostly husks and cannibals.. the supply of brutes and marauders had begun to dry up after the success' at Tuchunka and Palavan; The banshee's however, seemed to be in their usual numbers, Kir could hear the shrieks over the sounds of combat all around him._

"_Thirty minutes... we only need to hold them for thirty minutes"_

_Kir ignited his lightsabers, and set himself in a defensive posture, the other Jedi followed suit. The jusitcar and the small woman wreathed themselves in blue fire, and Javik snarled and readied his Particle Rifle._

"_I know what you are Harbinger! I know where you come from, and all about the legends you have. The storm is coming, so ask yourself one thing."_

"_Let them come Jedi. The final thing they'll see is the last of the Protheans sending them to their doom."_

_The reaper hoard charged, the sheer numbers shook the ground around them._

"_You just had to fucking say something didn't you."_

* * *

**3rd August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**21:40 zulu**

**On board SSV Normandy**

"Ok.. where to begin.."

Shepard looked across the table at his guest. He was trying to work out what he could of his guest, but he was finding it very difficult. On the outside, he was calm, even friendly to a degree, but underneath that, Shepard could see the same thing he saw in himself every time he looked in the mirror; those that he lost in combat.

"I suppose I should get the obvious stuff out of the way. I'm a fighter pilot with the Galactic Republic where I hold the rank of Colonel... the youngest in the fleet in fact. I fly with, and command Rogue Squadron.

"Rogue Squadron?"

This question came from Liara. She was sat next to Shepard, a move which she realised made it seem like an interrogation than an informal chat over food. She watched as the man in front of him gulp down the same hot, caffeinated liquid that Shepard and most of the crew consumed.

"The Rogues are the best of best. Pilots that fly with the Rogues have been proved in combat, we don't care about gender or species, only that they are good enough. We're the first line of the defence, the tip of the spear and importantly; a symbol, a lightsaber the Republic can shine into the dark recesses of the galaxy. When I became the Commanding Officer of the Rogues two years ago, it wasn't exactly kept a secret. The image of a Jedi leading the Rogues... it was too good an opportunity to pass up."

"Jedi? Huh.. sounds like some kind of elite group.. like the jusitcars."

Kir looked over at Garrus, his confusion evident on his face.

"The Justicars have forsworn all property apart from arms and armour. They live according to a strict code of over five thousand rules which means that nothing is morally grey. They'd defend a village to their dying breath, but destroy them in an instant if they'd broken the law. They are somewhat of an icon for my people.

Kir took another gulp of coffee before explaining.

"The Jedi are much more flexible than that. We each take an oath to defend those weaker than us, and will sacrifice ourselves if we have to, but we aren't so extreme; that leads to the Dark Side."

"So.. how do you square this defensive philosophy with active military service. From what you've said you are obviously a combat pilot, and what we saw of your combat skills against Vega and Garrus you are more than proficient in unarmed combat."

"When it comes to the Jedi, nothing is simple Commander. When I was younger, barely a teenager, the force showed me a vision of the future... my personal future. It's hard to explain everything, but I was fighting on an unknown planet. Fighting not just for my life, or those of my friends.. but for all life. My path was chosen for me a long time ago, but at least I have some idea of it's destination. I'll stay here and fight in this war Commander. You have my word."


	3. New Arrivals Part 2

**4th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**08:45 zulu**

**On board SSV Normandy**

"Are you sure about this Liara? I can't control what we'll see, if we see anything."

Before Liara could answer, Kir spoke up again, but this time it wasn't directed at her.

"Hey.. Beaker are you getting the same readings I am on the upper starboard laser?"

A high pitched, warbling sound came from the back of the X-wing.

"Yeah.. thats what I thought. See what you can do from back there. If it overloads it'll take half the foil with it and we are a long way from spares... a very very long way. If you can't get it sorted I'll have to get into the guts of it, with what passes for tools in the field kit."

Liara watched as as Kir dropped soundlessly to the floor from the wing of his fighter craft.

"I'll ask again... Are you sure? A lot of the time the visions are disjointed, allegorical almost. We could see what was, what is, and what may come to pass."

"I'm curious. The things you said last night about the force.. it sounds like Biotics, only so much more."

Kir smiled and sat down on the floor the shuttle bay, his legs crossed.

"If you want to try this, I'd recommend you sit down as well.

Liara looked him quizzically, but followed Kir's lead and sat down cross legged. Kir continued to talk whilst she settled herself.

"Normally, sharing visions and meditations are easy between Jedi, and visions can easily be shown between Jedi and non-Jedi, so long as the Jedi has enough experience. It's even easier through contact because the physical can act as a conductor; just like electricity and metal. Hold out your hands."

Liara held out her hands, and was surprised at how gently Kir held them.

"There are a lot of things about me that you'd be surprised about T'Soni. I might even tell you someday."

Kir didn't hear Liara's response, he was already slipping into a basic meditation trance. He spread his awareness so it covered the entire ship, he could feel the blazing presence of Shepard in the CIC, kind but weary soul of Chakwas and raw fury of Javik, the beautiful dancing inquisitiveness of Liara, and the dry and sardonic Joker. Garrus was still a total mystery to him.

"By the Goddess, this is amazing."

_If you think this is amazing, what happens next will render you speachless._

Kir fully opened himself up to the force and let it pour in. He dimly heard Liara gasp, and saw her now totally black eyes widen before the torrent washed through him.

* * *

_This vision wasn't like anything he'd experienced. Perhaps it was because Liara had melded with him, but it was a blur the past present and future where all jumbled up cutting in on top of each other._

"_.. if you value you continued existence.. there is one thing you NEVER put in a trap."_

"_You have to be careful.. this is a rare gift, even for Jedi, but it has the power to destroy you.."_

"_... and I told Nezzie, if you keep calling her little wing, she'll flap up a storm."_

"_.. degenerate now.. when they can do this."_

"_.. then I'm dead, thats ok.. I hope it was good one."_

"_... Now Jacob could have gotten me back on the Normandy."_

"_... It's a trap!"_

"_... I.. must go to them."_

"_...__Our influence will stop Saren; in the battle today, we will hold the line!"_

"..._now and then there are Saturdays. Big temporal tipping points when any-thing's possible."_

"…_Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle, those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file." _

"_.. someone else might've gotten it wrong"_

"_.. lock s-foils into attack position. And may the force be with us all."_

_The vision slowly began to become more coherent, slow down to the point where Kir could begin to process what was happening. He was hobbling as fast as he could towards where the beam had been active. In the distance, he could see single human body surrounded by hundreds of felled husks and marauders._

"_... I'm so sorry."_

_The vision swung around, and Kir could see a man, with a long fringe and distinctive facial features. His tweed jacket and bow tie looked very out of place in the middle of a war zone, as did his pristine blue box._

"_Samara told me everything. He fought with such skill, and courage and a ferocity that even the Krogan will tell tales about him in the coming centuries. Between them they drew off enough ground forces that countless people are alive that wouldn't have been. His sacrifice brought us the time we needed."_

_Kir could feel hot tears running down his cheeks._

"_Please.. you've got to do something. Your box.. you said it can travel in time."_

_Kir didn't recognise the voice, but it wasn't his, it was much higher pitched, female._

"_Time doesn't work like that. I can't go back and save him, just like I can't go back and save my own people. But; there is always hope."_

"_What do you mean."_

"_Rule One. I'll bet he didn't tell you about Rule One did he."_

"_What are you going on about."_

_The Doctor turned and opened the door to the TARDIS and held it open, patiently waiting._

"_Come on Liara... I think it's time we learned some of the truth."_

* * *

Kir slowly let go of Liara's hands slowly bringing her back to the real world, the world of the Normandy's shuttle bay. Kir could see the tear tracks on Liara's face. It wasn't an uncommon reaction to a first vision, especially one that showed a future loss. He looked intently at the 'young' Asari, it was still hard for him to think of someone three times his age as young, but then he'd heard of beings from his own galaxy who'd reached much older.

"Are you ok Liara?"

"Who is he? The one who died."

"I don't know Liara. Visions of the future like that don't come with little handy reference guides and labels. It might not even be a 'real' future."

Before Liara could ask, a whine filled hold, followed by a rush of air. The decompression warning automatically kicked from the sudden change of pressure, filling the entire ship with a clanging alarm.

"CORTEZ... GET THAT ALARM OFF!"

Kir watched as the blue box materialized in front of him, the whine and rushing air was all he could hear now that the alarm had been silenced. He activated his omnitool and brought up the communications program.

"Shepard, Kir here. Get down to the shuttle bay. You are going to want to see this."


	4. The rumors of her death

**Authors Note: The quote is originally from David Kenyon, a US Army officer of some kind (I found the quote on Google)**

"_What are you doing Chief?"_

"_Making sure this bomb goes off. No matter what."_

_Before Shepard could object, Ashley was back on the comms._

"_It's done Commander. Go get the lieutenant and get the hell out of here!"_

"_Belay that. We can handle ourselves. Go back and get Williams."_

_Shepard paused. He'd seen people die at Elysium, and had people die under his command in past, but this was the first time he'd had to choose between two people he counted as friends._

"_Alenko, radio Joker and tell him to meet us at the AA tower."_

"_Yes Commander. I..."_

"_You know it was the right choice LT."_

"_Hang on Ash, I'll be coming back for you."_

* * *

**4th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**10:00 zulu**

**On board SSV Normandy**

"Who the hell is she!"

Kir couldn't understand what was going on. Shepard already had the man who simply called himself by the title of Doctor up against one of the bulkheads of the mess hall, Garrus was definatly acting a lot more cagey than normal, and even Liara had seemed disturbed by the appearance of the brunette who was now in the medical bay. Only Vega didn't seem to be upset by the appearance, but looked as confused as Kir felt.

Kir looked sideways at Liara, who was stood near by, watching the scene in front of them unfold.

"What's going on Liara?"

"Nearly three years ago when we where tracking down Saren, we ended up on a planet called Virmire. The council believed that Saren had a base there and a Salarian STG team was sent in for reconnaissance. They uncovered a massive Krogan breeding facility Saren had set up. The plan was to put down a crude thermonuclear device and blow it on the way out. Things didn't work out how we planned, and Ashley Williams gave her life to make sure the base was destroyed."

"What's set Shepard off now though? He seems so.. in control normally."

"He had to make the choice of who to save. Kaiden and what was left of the Salarian team that had made a push to the AA tower, or Ashley. He cared for her, but he couldn't let Kaiden and Salarians die for a single person. He's never forgiven himself for the choice he made on Virmire, and that woman is identical in every way to Gunnery Chief Williams."

* * *

"_He's burning up! Surely we can do something for him."_

"_No... it's already started."_

"_What has?"_

"_Time Lords have this.. trick. This ability to cheat death under certain circumstances. When they are dying, they can repair all the damaged cells, but it changes them."_

"_You've seen this before then?"_

"_No.. I've actually done it before."_

"_But you're human."_

_River smiled._

"_Close, but not quite."_

* * *

**4th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**11:00 zulu**

**On board SSV Normandy**

"There are an infinite number of different dimensions all packed together, and between them is the void, like an infinitely layered sandwich, well not at all like a sandwich, but it's a good lie. There was a time when my people could pop from one of these realities to the other and be back in time for dinner, but they're gone now. Travel between these realities is impossible now, but small stuff still slips through. Ideas, stories, things that don't have actual physical existence, but are still real."

It had taken a long time to calm Shepard down, even after Kir had pulled him away from the Doctor. Only Chakwas's calm demeanour had finally reassured Shepard that it was Ashley who was currently in the medical bay. The Doctor had been talking for nearly half an hour trying to explain what had happened.

"An old enemy of mine tried to destroy the entirety of reality. People, planets, stars transformed into dust. The dust broken down into atoms, and then the atoms, into nothingness. But I stopped him. The explosion never happened in my reality, so it never happened in others and the walls of the universe didn't break down. I did fall through the void once, but that was an accident with the TARDIS controls"

"What about me then Doctor? I'm not exactly from this 'reality' either. And I sure as hell don't have a TARDIS."

"I don't know, like I said, this should be impossible."

The Doctor looked around at the assembled group. Shepard, Garrus, Liara, Kir and EDI's mobile platform where all looking at him. Another droid was zooming about on it's three wheels warbling happily to itself.

"This is obviously a military ship, three of you are obviously armed forces of some kind, and on edge. What's going on in this galaxy."

"War"

Commander Shepard stared hard at both the Doctor and River Song. His body language showed he obviously didn't trust them.

"We're at war for our very survival. Once every 50,000 years a machine race we know as the Reapers begin a cycle of extermination that wipes out the 'higher' lifeforms. Eight months ago I destroyed a proto-Reaper that was being constructed using the genetic material of liquidized human captives."

"We need your help Doctor."

The Doctor, Shepard and River all looked over at Kir.

"I can't. It isn't that simple. Time essentially exists in three states.. "

"Fixed, flux and still. I know the basics... The point is, all this is in a massive state of flux. If it wasn't, we'd either not need your help, or there wouldn't be any point in asking."

* * *

**4th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**16:00 zulu**

**Docks Holding Area, The Citadel**

"So.. I've been dead for nearly three years?"

Ashley looked over at Kir, who was also staring at the memorial wall. She'd have rather spent time with Shepard, but he was off speaking to the council with the strange Doctor person who had supposedly saved her, Kir had been asked to go along, but said he'd rather walk on the surface of Hoth barefoot than deal with politics. He'd had to explain the comment almost immediately.

"Apparently. Liara said that you died at Virmire. You where awarded the Silver Dagger and the Nova Cluster, posthumously of course.. the first human ever to be awarded them as well.. Nice going by the way. She also said that he never let himself forget what the victory over Saren had cost, both to the Alliance and to those closest to him."

Kir hadn't looked away from the wall, and his voice sounded far away and unfocussed.

"Shepard said that you'd promised to stay here and fight, even if you could get back to your own reality. Why would you do that?"

Ashley shifted uneasily. Her side where the round had punched through her armor was still painful despite the expert attention of Doctor Chackwas, and the powerful painkillers she'd been given. She'd been ordered to take it easy, and had been told there was no way she was going on the next ground mission.

"Look at these people Ashley. They can't comprehend this magnitude of destruction, I know all about the long and bloody history of my galaxy, I've even contributed in some of the most recent chapters, and I can hardly believe it. Even if I wasn't a Jedi, I couldn't walk away from this. If I stay here and fight with every last ounce of my strength, and in doing so, die, and my death results in just one less person having to visit this wall, then it was worth staying here."

"Is that some Jedi self-sacrifice thing?"

"Not really. We're taught something similar in the academy, but my mum was the real influence. 'Those things that are precious are saved only by sacrifice' She said that to me when I was thirteen. I had no idea what she meant at the time, but thinking back, she could have been preparing me for this."

Before Ashley could ask any more questions, a familiar voice broke her train of thought.

"I'd have thought you two would have been in the commons with Liara or doing something else."

Kir and Ashley both turned to see Shepard walking up to them wearing casual clothing, having changed out of more formal attire after the council meeting. Ashley had never seen the commander in anything other than variations of uniform, but the beat up leather jacket, t-shirt and jeans mix really did suit him.

"I could ask the same question about you Shepard. I wouldn't have imagined that you and your friend had much Spectre work to do down here."

Ashley looked at Kir, and then back at Shepard. The commander was quite clearly on his own, although after a brief period, she did notice that there was a small gap in otherwise busy foot-traffic.

"What does he mean?"

Before Shepard could come up with an suitable story, a petite woman appeared in the space, using what was presumably an advanced form of a tactical cloak.

"Damn it Shep, you never said that he was that good."

"It was luck that I actually picked you up. You could teach some of the students, and the teachers for that matter at the academy about having a small presence."

Shepard smiled. It wasn't often that Kasumi was put on the back foot.

"Kir, Ash. This is Kasumi Goto. She helped me take down the Collectors."

"The master thief? I thought she was just a rumour."

"And I thought you where dead Chief Williams, but you seem just as hard to kill as Shep here."

* * *

"_Commander, several oculus class fighters on CBDR course from port. Time to impact approximately 60 seconds."_

_"Anything we can do to stop them?"_

"Negative Commander, there are too many to shoot down and I am task to capacity with the cyber-warfare suits. Impact in 45 seconds."

_Shepard swore in frustration. He hadn't come this far, sacrificed this much to die in space above a Reaper-occupied Earth. Saren, Sovereign, the Collector Base, curing the genophage, reconciling the Geth and Quarian and the assault on Cerberus would all be for nothing if they died before they'd even got ground side._

_"New contacts, CBDR course from Starboard."_

_"Wow.. they really want us dead Commander."_

_Shepard glowered at the back of Jokers head. He normally appreciated and even encouraged it, especially after Kelly had noted the positive responses from the crew, but this wasn't the time._

_"Starboard contacts firing."_

_Shepard braced himself for the impacts that failed to happen. He watched as four fighters in tight formation flashed passed the front of the Normandy still firing weapons as they went._

_"Oculus fighters have been destroyed. Incoming radio message."_

_"..ogue Leader to Normandy. You're clear for descent. I'll add this to the tab shall I Shepard?"_


	5. A breath before the plunge

**4th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**21:00 zulu**

**On board SSV Normanday, Docked **

The Normandy was unusually quiet as Liara walked from the airlock to her office. Most of the crew where taking advantage of the facilities on the Citidel to unwind or aquire necessary purchases, she'd even pointed Traynor to a shop who "owed the Commander a favour" to get her replacement toothbrush. Even EDI had "left" the Normandy with Joker for the evening. She looked down at the OSD in her hand and smiled. She could have gone to the council meeting herself, Shepard had asked her to go, but she'd had other business to attend to, mostly using her Shadow Broker contacts to aid in gathering resources and weapons for Admiral Hackett.

Her feet carried her passed the memorial wall, where she noticed that someone had removed Ashley's placard from it's place, although she also saw from the marks that it had taken some effort to remove, as it wasn't exactly designed with that in mind. Liara smiled to herself, imagining Shepard struggling to remove it all by himself, he wouldn't have let anyone else do it. She saw a number of packages on one of the tables, most of them clothing, with one that looked like armor components, all of which was addressed to Kir Dulius, SSV Normandy. Kir had 'arrived' with very little in the way of clothes or equipment, only what he was wearing/ carrying and what was in the very small cargo compartment of his X-Wing so she'd pointed him to a few people who owed her a favour. It was sort of the same as she'd done for Taynor, but those who owed her (as the Broker) a favour could get a hold of the things that Kir was likely to need, even stuff that couldn't normally be aquired in Council space.

She input the code for her office door and continued in, pausing briefly to turn on the lights.

"Good evening Doctor T'Soni."

"Good evening Glyph. Anything I should know about?"

"You have a new message from Agent Feron. Colonel Dulius' metallic companion also delivered the technical specs you asked for."

"Thank you Glyph, although I believe Kir calls it Beaker. Please update your database to reflect that."

"Done."

Liara sat down and sighed. It had been a long few days, she was physically tired from the long hours working as the Shadow Broker and the fighting on Mars, Eden Prime and the Cerberus labs. She was emotionally drained as well. Javik had turned out to be a bitter a disappointment, and the visions Kir had shown her and the miraculous re-appearance of Ashley. She put the OSD into the reader and pressed the play button.

_Meeting of the Council of the Citadel Races, Councillors Tevos, Spartus, Valeen and Udina in attendance. Meeting Commander S Shepard (SPECTRE) and associates._

Liara remembered the day she'd found out the Commanders first name. Purely by chance his military file had crossed the Brokers desk, and she couldn't resist. She'd sent him what humans had called a "postcard" from the little Welsh town that had created the song in the first place.

"_Shepard. We asked you to meet with us because we where somewhat..."_

Liara paused the replay as the door chimed.

"It's open."

Kir walked in wearing the civvies he'd obviously brought on the citadel. He'd followed a similar pattern to Shepard, jeans and a t-shirt, but with differences. He hadn't bothered with a leather jacket, and soft canvas shoes. Liara noticed that he was carrying a bottle, some glasses and a brown pastry she didn't recognise.

"I bumped into Vega and a couple of the other crew going to a place called Purgatory. They said they'd seen you heading back here..."

"... And you thought you'd keep me company?"

Kir walked in and set the things he brought in on what little free space there was on Liara's desk.

"Sort of. These are a little bit of home. Ryshcate and Whyren's Reserve, it's a bit of a tradition amounst my people. The whiskey and the vweilu nuts are really difficult to get hold of, so Corellians have them as a celebration, or to remind us of home."

"So.. what are we celebrating?"

Kir poured out a measure into each of the glasses and passed one over to Liara.

"Being alive is good enough for me. Nearly everyone on this ship is doing it in their own way. They are letting off steam and having fun because they know tomorrow could be the end for them. They can feel that this is the deep breath before the plunge."

The clinked glasses and Kir took a sip of the whiskey and enjoyed the woody spice flavour on his tongue and the warmth in his throat as it went down.

"So what are you watching?"

Liara looked at the paused screen which she'd almost totally forgotten about.

"It's the council meeting from earlier today. I managed to acquire a copy"

Liara reached over and resumed the playback.

"_... concerned with the report you filed."_

"_Indeed, whilst you have been correct in the past about Saren and the Reapers, we find it hard to believe that people from an ''alternate reality'' have appeared, never mind joined your crew. Our best scientists have dismissed the claim that travel would be possible even if these ''alternate realities'' actually exist."_

_Shepard clenches his jaw, he's obviously frustrated with the air-quoting Turian. The whole galaxy was burning and he was running into the red tape as he had done when chasing down Saren._

"_Shepard, your report also mentions that Gunnery Chief Williams is amongst your crew, and we have had a separate memo from Commander Bailey saying that you leaned on him to officially bring her back from the dead. I draw your attention to your own report from the Virmire incident three years ago. 'Forced to choose between a single soldier and a group, I was forced to make my way to the AA tower to extract Staff-Lieutenant Alenko and the remains of the Salarian team lead by Captain Kirahee. Gunnery Chief Williams was killed with the detonation of the bomb sacrificing herself to allow us to escape.' How to explain the fact that Chief Williams is now a part of your crew?"_

"_Well... when we dropped through the void, the TARDIS must of.."_

_Shepard cut over the Doctor._

"_I'm convinced she's who she claims to be. You seem to forget that I was spaced by the Collectors whilst you had me hunting down pockets of Geth rather than finding a solution to the real threat. Right now we need everyone who is willing and able to fight. If they can take orders and fire a weapon, we need them. If they are smart enough to help with the Crucible, we need them."_

_The salarian council member, who until now had been unusually quiet._

"_Yes. Speaking of weapons. We received the data file from the man calling himself Kir Dulius. The information was passed on several independent groups for analysis, but we need to clarify a few details..."_

Liara looked over at Kir.

"You never mentioned that you'd given the data to the council."

"I gave them some of it. How to make blaster weaponry, how our hyper-drives work, shielding. That kind of stuff. I don't know how useful it'll be with the Reapers already here, but it'll help. You got a lot more than that. Full technical information to do with my X-Wing, in-flight recordings, lightsaber construction, and my full service record at the least. I'm not entirely sure because I asked Beaker to give you everything he had."

"Why? Some of this information could totally shift the balance of power in the galaxy."

"That's why you've got it. This is too much for any one government to have all in one go. This stuff is for when the dust has settled and it needs to be handed out bit by bit."

"And why are you giving it me?"

Before Kir could respond, the ships com system crackled.

"Liara, Kir, Garrus, Ashley and EDI, gear up and report to the Armoury. Grissom Academy is under attack."

Kir was almost out of the door before Shepard had finished. He half turned back to Liara.

"Because I trust you."

* * *

_Samara couldn't move as the Mako came tumbling towards her. The explosion had left her half buried in debris and she was too exhausted to even attempt to construct a shield around her. She watched as the tank arched towards her. She closed her eyes and waited for the impact that didn't come. She opened eyes to see the Mako hanging there before reversing direction and slamming back into the ranks of the Reaper hoard. Hands pulled her from under the rubble and back onto her feet. In the last half an hour they'd been pushed steadily back towards the beam that Shepard and Anderson had gone through, they had exacted a high price from the Reaper forces for every step but it wasn't enough against what seemed like an endless stream._

"_... go through the beam. Jack, Samara you go next. Javik, we'll go through last. Find Shepard, Anderson and the Doctor. Nothing else matters"_

_The two other Jedi nodded and reluctantly stepped into the beam. Jack went through straight away after. Samara was about to step through before Kir called her back._

"_Samara... Ask the Doctor about the generated anomaly, it's a slim chance, but I'll take what I can get."_

"_You aren't coming through."_

"_No. If they get up there we'll never hold them back long enough. Once you go through, I'll remove the power."_

"_Is there anything you want me to tell Liara?"_

"_Nothing she's not about to hear herself."_

_Kir brought up his omnitool and typed a few commands. Samara knew enough about humans to know it was a pre-recorded message he was sending._

"_Go."_

_Samara stepped into the beam and felt it's energy wash over her. Nearly instantly she was surrounded by the stench of dead humans. Javik came through next, however both sets of eyes looked dazed and out of focused. Kir had obviously stunned him somehow and thrown him through, knowing he wouldn't leave voluntarily. _

"_Just Master Dulius to come then?"_

_It was one of the other Jedi, the female human, Samara hadn't heard the name._

"_He's not coming."_

"_That lying fuck."_

_Samara looked over at Jack. She'd changed a lot since the Collector base, but still swore when her students weren't around._

"_You heard him, we need to find Shepard..."_

_The rest of them started to move along the corridor, the only way they could go. Samara took a few steps before turning back and looking at the spot where she had emerged._

"_... may you find peace in the embrace of the Goddess."_


	6. Sur'kesh Part 1

**Author's Note: Apologies for not updating for a while. Ironically I managed to pick up writers block for this chapter (and the next few), so spent the time working on one of the last chapters (This chapter was written, re-written, scraped, and re-written again.)**

**It should also be noted I didn't stick completely to cannon when it comes to the GARDIAN lasers, specifically, they work on the same kind of level as blasters from Star Wars (ie: not speed of light), and they aren't super-amazingly accurate like they are described in the ME 1 codex.**

**Finally; I don't hate Vega, I've just always found him amusing but a bit of a non-entity. I will try and bring him in a bit more later.**

* * *

"_You have to be careful Kir, this is a rare gift, even for Jedi, but it has the power to destroy you."_

_Kir looked up as his dad, not totally sure what had prompted this lecture. One of the practise drones had managed to out manoeuvre him and fired it's stun bolt at him. On instinct, he'd absorbed the power from the bolt rather than be stunned by it. He was only Twelve standard years of age, but understood, like most of the Jedi children at the academy that these lectures did have some meaning, even if it wasn't totally apparent at the time._

* * *

**13th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**10:10 zulu**

**STG Research Base, Sur'Kesh**

_Bleep Bleep Bleep_

Shepard slid behind cover, narrowly avoiding a wall of gunfire from the Cerberus occupied end of the corridor. Liara and Garrus had also ducked back into their cover, avoiding a burst from the turret that Shepard had noticed nearly too late.

_Bleep Bleep Bleep_

Shepard fired his heavy pistol round the corner in an attempt to keep the troops suppressed whilst his shields recharged.

"Garrus, hit that turret with an overload. Liara, when the shields drop I want you to hit it with a warp."

He unslung his Mantis sniper rifle and keyed his tactical cloak as Garrus activated his overload program. He stepped round and scoped in as Liara threw the warp attack at the turret. He pulled the trigger and felt the rifle kick as the round left the weapon. He was already back behind cover before the turret had exploded. What he hadn't expected was the massive detonation that occurred seconds later, throwing bits of shuttle and person around the place.

Ears ringing from the explosion, Shepard struggled back to his feet. The effects of close in explosions wasn't particularly new to him, and from the looks of it, Garrus was used to it as well. He looked over to Liara, who was shouting into her omni-tool.

"IS EVERYONE OK?"

The ringing in his ears was already starting to die down, and for the thousandth time Shepard silently thanked Miranda for including and improving on, the implants he'd received from the Alliance when she'd rebuilt him. Garrus gave the Turian equivalent of a thumbs up, and Liara just nodded.

"Shepard, Kir says to answer your omni-tool next time. He also asked if you could tell your Salarian friends to stop trying to shoot him down and focus on Cerberus... He says it's irritating."

Shepard was about to ask Liara what she meant when he first heard and then saw Kir's X-Wing blast past their location, followed by a number of Salarian gunships. He was easily out flying them, even managing to take down a pair of Cerberus shuttles as he banked through a sharp turn, much sharper than the gunships could follow at speed.

"Mordin, did you hear that?"

"Yes. Relaying information to teams now. Read the information that Councillor Valern sent to Kirahee, impressive technology. Hurry Shepard, you are near the next checkpoint."

* * *

**13th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**09:20 zulu**

**SSV Normandy, Pranas System**

Kir was sat in the mess pouring over the information that Liara had given him a week before. He was trying to learn as much information about this new galaxy as he could. He'd always had an obsession with reading since before he could remember, and the axiom he'd heard the Doctor say was true. Knowledge really is power.

"The recordings from the academy demonstrated your impressive fighting skills Jedi. We could have used your talents in my cycle."

Kir looked up at from his datapad and politely smiled at the most enigmatic crew member the Normandy.

"How can I help you Javik?"

"Can you not simply pluck that information out of my mind?"

"It doesn't work like that."

"I simply require sustenance."

Kir went back to his reading.

_The A__sari w__ere the first species to discover the __Citadel__. When the S__alarians __arrived, it was the Asari who proposed the establishment of the __Citadel Council __to maintain peace throughout the galaxy. Since then, the Asari have served as the mediators and centrists of the Council._

_An all-female race, the Asari reproduce through a form of parthenogenesis. They can attune their nervous system to that of another individual of any gender, and of any species, to reproduce. This capability has led to unseemly and inaccurate rumours about Asari promiscuity._

_Asari can live for over 1,000 years, passing through three stages of life. In the Maiden stage, they wander restlessly, seeking new.._

"You are not on the ground team, yet you are dressed for combat."

"Standard practise on Alliance ships, even if no combat operations are scheduled, on duty officers are expected to be combat ready."

"A wise precaution. Your galaxy must have seen a lot of conflict."

Before Kir could answer, the whole of the Normandy rocked.

"Contact, Contact. Two Cerberus cruisers just dropped out of FTL."

Kir was out of his seat and at the lift before Joker had finished on the comm.

"Joker, get us a decent distance from those cruisers, EDI co-ordinate with Beaker, I'll need a galaxy map and co-ordinates for my X-Wing. Vega, Williams I want you two up in the CIC, you know more about the weapons and tactics available than I do. Doctor, you and that screwdriver of yours might be needed. Beaker, give Traynor the IFF frequency for our bird, and make sure all the systems are online before I get there."

He didn't technically have the authority to order the Normandy crew to do anything, but in a combat situation people who sounded like they where in charge could often get away with. He braced himself against the wall opposite the lift, feeling the Normandy pick up speed and jumped in when it finally turned up.

"Williams here. Vega's out for the count, tried to catch a crate with his face."

Kir mashed the button for the cargo deck.

"Chakwas, did you hear that?"

"Affirmative Colonel, I'll get down there asap."

Kir ran out of the lift, across the bay and used the force to help him vault into his fighter. Before the cockpit had sealed, he already had the repulsor lifts at full power and the gear retracted.

"EDI, what's going on out there?"

"They are launching numerous shuttles and gunships towards the planet. Vectors suggest they are heading to Shepard's location."

"Ok... here's the game plan. Joker, keep the Normandy out of harms way until I call you in. I'll make a single pass at one of the cruisers on my way past and head on to Sur'Kesh. Once there, I'll provide close air-support and paste anything that tries to take out Cortez."

"That still leaves the two cruisers against a frigate and a fighter."

"Then we improvise, Williams."

* * *

**13th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**09:50 zulu**

**Cerberus Cruiser, Pranas System**

"New contact. Size makes it out to be a fighter, but it's not any type that the system recognises."

The Captain narrowed his eyes. A single fighter against two cruisers was a joke, but he'd done his reading. Shepard was known for his unorthodox tactics, and if the rumours where true the Commander had come across some exceptionally advanced technology in the last few weeks.

"Barriers up. Deploy the last of the gunships to eliminate this fighter. Warm up the GARDIAN lasers."

"Aye Sir, Gunships on route, lasers powering up."

The Captain watched as six gunships turned to engage the solitary fighter, expecting a short engagement with the upgraded gunships. Amusement turned to horror as the single fighter not only outmanoeuvred the gunships with alarming ease, jinking around the incoming fire, but taking out three of the ships and disabling a fourth without even turning significantly off course.

"Unknown fighter still on course, heading to the planet's surface. Remaining gunships unable to pursue."

"Make both ships are recording this, the Illusive Man will want to see."

The Captain watched as the fighter ducked and dived between the laser fire from the two cruisers, still maintaining it's course towards the planet. It started firing it's weapons at his ship, firing much more rapid fire than it had done against the gunships, firing a single burst from each wing-tip instead of all 4 at the same time.

"Sir... Barriers on the port side are at 30, 20, 10, 5... Barriers are gone Sir"

"What the hell?"

"It's not just the weapons fire from the fighter sir. We're taking the hits meant for the fighter from the other cruiser."

"Damn it.. cease fire until who ever this person is outside of the arcs that include the other cruiser."

Whoever this pilot was, they where daring, cunning, and unbelievably good.

"Sir, fighter has cleared firing arcs."

"Blow it out.."

The Captain never got to finish the order as the massive explosion rocked the ship just behind the bridge. The last thing the unlucky Captain saw before death was the unknown fighter light it's afterburners and accelerate away towards the planet

* * *

**13th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**09:50 zulu**

**SSV Normandy**, **Pranas System**

The bridge of the Normandy was utterly silent, EDI was taking time to analyse what they'd just seen, and even Joker was impressed.

"Man.. I thought I was good."

"Normandy, Rogue One here. Heading planet side, might loose contact when I hit atmo. Hold position until I collect the Commander."

"Williams here. Copy that. Just one question though... How did you do that?"

"EDI has a copy of the files I gave to Liara. Access files relating to Jedi Shadow Bomb and Ackbar Slash. Javik was right, my galaxy has seen a lot of war... to much. Rogue One out."

"EDI?"

"Accessing; Jedi Shadow bomb. A technique developed during the Yuuzhan Vong war. Instead of standard torpedo, that could be tracked using it's propellent trail, Jedi would remove the guidance systems and propellent, replacing them with an explosive compound called baradium. Being highly volitile itself, this made the resulting explosions much more powerful than the standard torpedo. With the Jedi pilot using telekinesis to guide the missile, they are very difficult to detect and destroy."

"Ok.. so at least we know that his obsessive reading is paying off. What's the Ackbar Slash EDI?"

"Accessing; Ackbar Slash. A tactic developed by, and named after, Admiral Gial Ackbar. The tactic dictates that a fleet drives through the middle of an enemy formation, allowing the attacking fleet to fire indiscriminately at all hostile ships. Conversely the defending ships have to limit their fire, or risk hitting their own forces. Whilst this was developed primarily as a Captial ship tactic, A and E-Wing interceptor squadrons have used this tactic to great effect when entering a general melee, using speed as the primary defence."

Ashley half smiled, having already worked out where this was going. She was a gunnery chief, and weapons where her **thing**, even if space combat tactics wasn't.

"Good plan. Blow the gunships apart quickly to get the Cruisers attention. GARDIAN's are mostly automated, manual control isn't normally a viable option. Get in close, and fast and let the misses from the other do some of the work for you..."

"Then drop a crap load of explosives into the unprotected hull."

Ashley smiled. Joker hadn't changed in the slightest.

"Only problem is, that tactic isn't going to work a second time. EDI, I want a model of that ship on the projector in the War Room, with locations of weapons emplacements, particularly the GARDIAN batteries. I also want any tactical files, ours and Kir's, that might be useful, and see where the Primarch is, Garrus told me he was unconventional for a Turian, I'd like his insight."

"Certainly Gunnery Chief. Would you like fries with that?"

There was confused silence on the bridge.

"That was a joke."


	7. Sur'kesh Part 2

**Authors Note: Again, apologies for the long time between updates. I've been busy with work, watching the Olympics (specifically the archery) and my own training (again, for archery)**

"_Akuse Twelve to Elysium Station. How much time do you need."_

"_As long as you can can Akuse Twelve. Rogue Squadron is approximately thirty minutes out."_

"_Copy that. How is Lieutenant Elsey doing?"_

"_She's stable, but it's unlikely she'll fly again. Sorry."_

"_Thank you Elysium Station. May the Force be with you."_

"_And you Akuse Twelve."_

**13th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**10:00 zulu**

**STG Research Base, Sur'Kesh**

"Beaker, the shields got a little cooked by that cruiser, I'm only seeing 32% power on the forward arrays.. See what you can do from back there."

Kir continued his dive through the atmosphere of the planet, only firing on targets of opportunity as he passed them. By now he knew that the gunships would either be avoiding engagement, or would be intending to swarm him, either way worked as they would be too worried about him to attack Shepard's team as they extracted the female krogan.

He could already see the flashes from explosions and gun fire as fire-fights raged across the base. He noticed a group of a half dozen drop ships peeling off and heading down to a specific area of the base.

"What are the odds that they are going after Shepard."

"_You regularly complain when I attempt to inform you of the odds. In fact, every time I have attempted to inform you since our days in Akuse Squadron.."_

"Yeah, Yeah... Half-Corellian. Don't like odds. After all these years you still don't understand rhetorical question."

"_However, there it is likely that those shuttles are headed to Shepard and Liara's location."_

"You could have just said Shepard's location."

"_I know.. however we've noticed the amount of time you spend with Liara is proportionally higher than with other members of the crew."_

"We?"

"_Myself and EDI."_

"You are as bad as my mum, you know that right?"

Kir levelled his X-Wing out smoothly, settling in behind the shuttles. He switched the blaster cannons into dual-fire mode, wanting more punch than the stutter-fire he'd used to distract the cruiser, but without the delay of quading the lasers. He toggled the radio, which he'd linked into the omni-tool communications program.

"Try getting a hold of Shepard, he needs to know he's going to have company. I also don't want to bring one of these shuttles down on their heads."

"_Connecting..."_

Kir fired at the closest of the shuttles, his first pair of bolts blew out the barriers and scored the hull, the second pair drilled through the rear of the craft, punching through the eezo core that kept the thing up in the air. Kir watched as it dropped away, heading towards the Salarian base.

"_...I'm not getting a response from Commander Shepard."_

"Fine, try Liara."

"_Connecting... Connection established."_

"..iara here."

Kir could hear the sounds of gunfire in the background.

"I've been trying to get hold of Shepard, but he won't answer his damn radio... You've got..."

Before he could finish, he could feel his X-Wing buck from impacts to his rear shields.

"_Some of Salarians have broken off their engagement with Cerberus and are moving to intercept."_

".. A CERBERUS SHUTTLE JUST DROPPED OUT OF THE SKY."

"Sorry, I was trying to warn you, they're dropping more troops in. I'm doing my best to take out the shuttles, but I've picked up a little Salarian company. Can you ask Shepard to get them back in the real fight, I really don't want to have to deal with them."

Kir didn't have time to wait for a response, he jinked his fighter around enough to keep the Salarians off him, but still allowing him to line up easy shots on the two shuttles that where banking up and away from the original flight path.

"This is Cortez, we've got a number of gunships trying to take down our shuttle.."

Kir hit the radio

"Cortez, Rogue One. I'll be with you in a few minutes, just playing tag with some shuttles myself."

He pulled back on the stick, and fired three pairs of bolts into each shuttle just to make sure. He felt rather than saw the explosion that engulfed the first of the pair, and saw the second one fold as the G-Forces from the turn was too much for the hull to handle after it had been punctured by all six bolts, it's barriers already having been overloaded by it's unlucky wingman. He rolled out of the loop at the apex of the climb and opened the throttle all the way.

"Cortez, Rogue One. Shuttles dealt with, inbound on your position."

* * *

**13th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**11:30 zulu**

**SSV Normandy, Pranas System**

"Lets here your master plan then Williams."

When Kir had told Shepard that Ashley and Joker where running the show, he'd been worried. Joker was many things, but master tactician wasn't one of them, and Ashley had never done much more than platoon level work. It had dawned on him, however, that Kir had made the right call, as despite being the ranking officer on board, he really didn't know all that much about the weapons and tactics other than what he'd read.

"Kir's destruction of the first cruiser has them worried, but angry. Angry people make mistakes, and that's what we're going to use. The plan itself is pretty simple, and breaks down into five stages.

Firstly; They know we need to get through the Mass Relay to get out of here, specifically to get Tuchunka. We're going to let them find us.

Second; When they do, the Normandy pulls back, like last time, and Kir sets off in his X-Wing.

Third, and this is critical; We have to make Cerberus believe that Kir has the genophage cure. They won't want to chase him down considering what happened to the other cruiser, but they'll have to. The last thing that Cerberus wants is the Krogan cured.

Fourth; When the cruiser breaks away, the Normandy swings round and makes a break for the Mass Relay.

Finally; Kir jumps out, we RV at a pre-arranged system. My initial suggestion is Widow, Kir's been to the Citadel before and we've got some stuff to drop off anyway."

"It's a good plan Ash, simple and elegant."

"Yes, KISS. Very effective planning tool. Current STG operatives adopted this from humanity almost ten years ago."

"You realise that this means I'll be facing a Captial ship and it's fighter compliment on my own whilst you lot swan off in relative safety."

"What's the matter flyboy. I thought you said you where the best."

"I am Vakarian.. I wanted you to be fully aware of what I'm taking on, so when I'm _waiting_ for you at Citadel you'll be even more impressed."

* * *

**13th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**12:20 zulu**

**Pranas System**

"Cruiser is launching gunships. LADAR gives approximately two dozen contacts, plus the cruiser."

"Copy that Normandy. Moving to engage."

"Give us thirty minutes and then jump out."

"Will do. My the force be with you. Rogue One out."

Kir pulled away from the Normandy, opening the s-foils into attack position and transferring power to the shields as he turned the fighter towards the Cerberus formation.

"Give me a thirty minute count down from now."

A clock appeared on the top right of his HUD and began counting down.

"Thanks. Give me an audio reminder at five minutes, then again at one."

According to the plan, EDI should have already hacked into their communications and playing back the pre-recorded bait-message, all Kir could hope was that they'd bite and turn to engage him. He held the course for the Mass Relay for almost a full minute before the gunships finally turned towards him.

"_Formation indicates they'll break and surround. Pretty standard swarm tactics."_

Kir waggled the wings of the fighter, the pre-arranged visual cue that the plan was a go.

"This reminds me of the first time we worked together. Hopelessly out numbered and outgunned."

"_Do you still think about what happened with Akuse Squadron?"_

"Sometimes. More so recently."

Ten minutes had already ticked away on the mission counter before Kir had to engage the Cerberus gunships. He allowed the force to flow fully into him as he lined up the shot on the first target of the afternoon.

* * *

**13th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**12:45 zulu**

**Cerberus Cruiser, Pranas System**

"How many gunships do we have left?"

"Sir... Eleven... no Twelve of our gunships are out of the fight, seven of which have been totally destroyed. Target is still keeping out of effective range of the GARDIAN lasers"

The Captain watched as the fighter tangled with the remaining gunships they had available. He'd seen the reports from Sur'Kesh which had shown that this single fighter was responsible for a significant percentage of the losses caused planet-side as well as the near total destruction of _Pacesdo. _The worst part was that they still didn't know who the mysterious pilot was. The best intel that the Illusive Man himself had been able to provide was that it was probable that it was the same person who'd accompanied Shepard at Grissom Academy.

He watched as another gunship winked out of existence, captivated by the flying of the enemy pilot. The fighter was simply never where the gunships fired, and even when something got close, a highly advanced kinetic barrier would stop the shot before it could deal damage to the fighter itself.

"Sir, Mass Relay has activated."

"What?!"

"It seems the fighter was decoy. Mass approximately the same as that of the Normandy has exited the system."

The Captain snarled. He couldn't believe that he'd fallen for what was a simple bait-and-switch. He quickly regained his composure however.

"We know where the Normandy is going. What we can do is capture this fighter and present it to the Illusive Man."

"Sir.. detecting massive spacial disruptions.

The Captain watched as the fighter vanished.

"... Fuck."


	8. The Doctor Who Killed Millions

_The rifle kicked hard in Lieutenant Shepard's shoulder, sending a single round nearly three hundred meters down range, blowing a hole in the Batarian as it rounded the corner. Before the body had even hit the floor Shepard was up and moving away from his sniping position._

_Fire and move. Fire and move. It had been almost twenty-four hours since the Batarian's had attacked Elysium, cutting short Shepard's shore leave. What military was available had fought delaying actions to give the civilian population time to scatter before being slowly forced into guerilla tactics in an attempt to divert attention to themselves._

_Two more Batarians rounded the corner of the street Shepard was running down. The first was taken down by a trio of pistol rounds, two in the chest and one in the head. The second widened both pairs of eyes in surprise as Shepard rammed his omni-blade deep into his chest before putting a round through it's head._

* * *

**14th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**10:00 zulu**

**SSV Normandy, Widow System**

"Chief Gunnery Officer Williams. Please step forward."

Shepard had insisted that everyone who was available should be in the shuttle bay, and dressed smartly, even EDI's mobile platform was in attendance, even through it did look somewhat... unsure as to why it had been requested.

"It has come to my attention that on several occasions, you did knowingly and willingly show bravery, leadership and tactical awareness above that expected of a Chief Gunnery Officer within the Alliance Navy. With multiple witnesses to these actions, including a number of people currently present, there can be no doubt as to the accuracy of these charges.

Having spoken to Admiral Hackett about these grievous charges, there is only one punishment suitable for these crimes. You are hear-by promoted to the rank of Lieutenant First Class with all the associated rights and responsibilities. May god have mercy on your soul."

* * *

**14th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**12:00 zulu**

**SSV Normandy, Widow System**

Mordin was examining the latest results from his tests using both Eve's and Wrex's genetic material when he heard the door to sickbay open.

"Most human crew aboard the Citadel. Steps to light to be Turian or Krogan. To organic to be EDI. Good afternoon Doctor."

The Salarian looked up at the man who had entered sickbay with genuine curiosity. He had hundreds, if not thousands of questions to ask, theories to explore.

"The commander told me that your where... industrious, but surely even you need a break?"

"Interesting. Omni-tool translation matrix not engaged, yet you sounded like you spoke Salarian."

"That's the TARDIS. The translation matrix gets in your head and translates all languages to all others."

"Interesting. Similar to Reaper indoctrination techniques. Impossible to with just machinery. TARDIS not just a simple ship... it's alive."

The Doctor smiled.

"I've never heard a TARDIS described as simple."

"Cross-dimensional construction is... problematic, but all ships have the same basic controls. Power, Pitch, Yaw and Roll. I have many questions and EDI is still performing simulations on latest batch of tests."

"Ok.. Question for a Question. EDI seems helpful, and Kir and Beaker seem to a team, so why the distrust of AI?"

"The Quarians created the Geth to do the jobs they considered too dangerous, but they began to gain awareness, and the Quarians panicked and attacked them. The Geth defended themselves and exiled the Quarian creators.

I saw Doctor Chakwas' medical scans. You look human, but binary-vascular system is a non-human trait. Only Krogan have additional organs."

"I'm a Time Lord, from the planet of Gallifrey. Your species is relatively short lived, you think and act fast. So why this fixation with the Krogan?"

"Genophage is Salarain weapon. Developed during the Krogan wars, deployed by the Turian Hierarchy. Reduces the number of Krogan children that survive to term. Was part of team who modified original genophage to accommodate Krogan adaptions."

"What happened to 'Do no Harm'?!"

"Work on Genophage did not do harm. Have caused plenty of harm in the past.. shootings, knives, tech attacks and once with farming equipment, but never caused harm with medicine. All simulations pointed to population explosion and war. Didn't not account for Eve or Urdnot Wrex however."

"So... This cure is a chance to atone for the past. You want redemption."

"Moved to Omega, focussed on healing, but still went to Tuchunka every year to see the damage I had caused. Went there during Collector mission with Shepard, found old pupil working on a cure. Methods where barbaric, but goal was noble... saved data hoping to find use for it later on. Has to be me Doctor, someone else might get it wrong. Surely you've done things you wish you could be forgiven for?"

_What did it feel like, though? Two almighty civilizations, burning? __Oh, tell me, how did that feel?_

"There is no-one left to forgive me for the things I have done."

* * *

**14th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**12:00 zulu**

**Docks Holding Area, The Citadel**

The woman looked down at the photos in her hand. One was of a female marine in white and pink armour posing with an old assault rifle resting on her hip, smiling with other members of her squad. The second was of her husband, killed during the Reaper invasion of Earth. Her sister's Commanding Officer had visited them six weeks after the mission that had claimed her life, and had told them exactly how she'd died, even the parts that where classified by the Alliance.

She looked up, and saw the same man that had visited them that day. He looked at the pictures and then back at her.

"There is someone I think you should meet before you put that picture of your sister up on the wall."

The woman looked to where he was pointing. She was so shocked by who she saw that should could hardly talk.

"It... can't be. She's... dead"


	9. Memorial Wall

**Authors Notes**

**Firstly: Sorry for the delay, I had a real bad case of writers block, plus I've been doing a lot of work recently, and finally.. I've gotten into play Star Wars: The Old Republic, and it's actually an MMO that I like**

**Secondly (answer to a review, but also to a friend who isn't a member): Basically, the stuff in italics at the start of a chapter is something that has happened in the past, and is a bit of history for one of the characters in the story. Stuff later on in the chapters is a brief view of what is to come.. well, a version of what is to come (Visions are never that reliable). If the timeline for a section jumps back a little bit from the previous bit, it's because I wanted to show slightly different, but concurrent events.**

"_Dear Mrs Williams_

_We regret to inform you that your daughter, Chief Gunnery Officer Ashley Williams, has been reported Killed In Action during a ground engagement on the world of Virmire. _

_Although the exact details of the operation are classified, CGO Williams willingly gave her life in the finest traditions of the Alliance Marine Corps, ensuring the successful completion of the mission._

_Chief Gunnery Officer Williams has been posthumously awarded the Star of Terra as well as the Salarian Silver Dagger and the Turian Nova Cluster._

_Our thoughts are with you at this tragic time._

_Admiral Hackett, Alliance Navy"_

* * *

**14th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**11:30 zulu**

**Docking Bay D24, The Citadel**

"Are you sure the intel is good?"

Shepard looked over to Ashley as they stepped out of the airlock and into the bustle of the docking bay.

"The intel came from Liara's network. Your sister is on the Citadel."

They continued walking towards the elevator, weaving a path through the crowds as they went.

"Did you two... you know?"

Shepard's mind jumped back to the Original Normandy, before they'd gone to Virmire, they'd gone there last before returning to the Citadel. Liara and Ashley had cornered him in the comm room, both convinced that he was _interested_ in them. He'd felt bad about hurting Liara, but he'd just not seen her that way.

"We're just friends Ash. I never saw her that way..."

They stepped into the elevator, and Shepard pressed the button for the Holding Area.

"...same can't be said for Kaiden though."

Ashley snorted in surprise.

"I had no idea... Though, he could have had a shot this time round, if he'd played the sympathy card right."

"Could have?"

"Oh come on Skipper. Liara's changed a lot in the last few years, but she's still a sucker for a knight in shining armour."

"He's not technically a Knight. I saw it in his service record, he was recently elevated to the rank of Jedi Master..."

Ashley snorted again.

"... What is it this time Ash?"

"Sorry. My mind just went somewhere... interesting. Liara, Kir, Roleplay.

"... You have a very strange and dirty mind Williams."

"Oh, you have no idea Skipper."

The lift opened and the noise and smell of the Holding Area immediately assaulted their senses.

"Well... back to business. I'm going to talk to her first. This isn't the first time I've had to do a 'Guess who isn't dead any more' speech.. I got quite used to them during the Collector attacks."

* * *

**14th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**11:30 zulu**

**Purgatory, The Citadel**

The bass of the music pounded through Kir, and the mixed emotions rolled over him in the force. He'd been in bars and clubs before with the Rogues and various groups of other pilots and marines, but in general he didn't go into such places. He didn't know many Jedi who did, for the most part they tended to stay away, even though there was nothing saying that the had to, or shouldn't. Yet, here he was, albeit after much pestering by Vega, Garrus and Joker. Vega and Garrus had gone straight to the bar and instantly started trading stories with the marines near by whilst getting the first round of drinks for the group. Kir smiled to himself and shook his head.

"What's so amusing?"

"I'm in an alternate reality, and the marines do exactly the same... twenty-four hour liberty means straight to the club to knock back a few drinks, share exaggerated exploits with fellow marines. Throw in some card games, and a bar-fight and it'll be like I never left."

Kir sat down next to Joker, who was watching the various groups of people in the club with a keen interest. Without thinking he turned to the bartender and ordered two drinks, both of them where a whiskey that Liara had told him where close to Whyren's Reserve. He didn't believe that anything on offer in a club would compare, but he could hope.

"You know, quite a lot of these people are here to try and forget. Not relax, forget."

Kir could feel it in the force, a nervous undercurrent that radiated off most of the people in the room. He nodded and smiled at the bartender who passed him his drinks, and handed the second over to Joker.

"I've never tried whiskey that was blue before... So, how can you tell?"

"The way they move. They don't care about attracting attention, or busting some sweet moves. This is all about drinking and flailing around on the dance floor so that the biggest problem they have in the morning is a hangover and a slight taste of sick in their mouths."

"You certainly are a.. keen observer of people Joker."

"The 'advantage' of Vrolik's syndrome, I have a lot of experience in observing rather than doing. Everyone blows off steam in different ways. Garrus and Vega swap stories and come to clubs, Shepard punches reporters and cuts the council off of vid-com, Cortez likes to about piloting, and Javik is just a big ball of rage and arrogance. Liara is very secretive since she 'changed jobs', keeping a lot of information secret, real change in personality since the old days on the SR1. You are actually the hardest to read of all. You seem calm and relaxed like all the time, but sometimes you get this edge in your voice, a hardness in your eyes that makes me think you've seen a lot of fighting and destruction. Maybe even as much as the Commander has."

Kir finished his drink in a quick mouthful and ordered another pair, from the same bar-tender as before.

"You're good Joker, I'll give you that. Yeah; I've seen a lot of fighting and destruction, but nothing compared to what we're going to see before this is over."

* * *

"_Not content to sit on the sidelines, you path is that of combat and sacrifice. To your friends, you will be a sentinel and known as a sword of the Jedi. To your enemies, you will be feared as an oncoming storm."_


	10. Memories are made of this Part 1

**Authors Note: I'm using the rough descriptions of Jedi 'classes' according to The Old Republic rather than the Knights of the Old Republic.. Sentinel being a dual-wielding damage dealer, Guardian being more defensive and tanky.**

**Also; Big sorry for not updating sooner.. I've been swamped with new job, general life stuff.**

_The robed figures walked past Liara. The first of the pair was a woman, and she looked exhausted, her face covered in grime, a long thin scratch long her cheek looked like it was a few days old at least and her red hair was dirty and roughly tied back in a short pony tail. The second person was taller, more powerfully built than the woman, but had less in the way of protection, opting for re-enforced sections rather than the armour of the woman. Liara couldn't make out any details about him though, he was wearing his hood up._

"_Are you sure about this?"_

"_We are Sargent. Start moving everyone underground."_

_The pair continued through the door, which slammed shut behind them. Liara followed, passing through the metal like it was nothing, taking in the war-torn scene in front of her. Smoke poured from the few scattered vehicles,and dozens of bodies lay around, each one had been shot by some kind of energy weapon multiple times._

_In front where five humans in dark clothing, faces twisted in rage. From where she 'stood' she could see that their faces where pale, and their eyes yellow._

"_Well, well. The scouts said there were Jedi amongst the defenders, but if they'd said it was you two, we'd have pressed much harder, maybe killed a few hundred more civilians to get your attention."_

"_Leave this planet now, or be destroyed. The choice is up to you, Sith."_

_The leader of the group laughed._

"_We have greater numbers, it will be you who will be destroyed."_

_The five humans ignited their lightsabers, each one a burning red. The woman ignited her green blade as lighting jumped from the free hands of their opponents, catching it on her blade, whilst the man simply held out his left hand and absorbed the electricity that had been hurled his way._

"_You will find us of superior quality."_

_The man leapt towards the group, igniting his blades as he arched through the air. Landing in the middle of the group, he delivered a kick to the gut of the leader, sending him crashing into a near by tree before turning to engage the younger, obviously more inexperienced of the group. The woman charged in on foot, quickly taking the fight to the more experienced pair._

_The novices went down quickly, the first from a quick pair of slashes across the mid-section, and the second was impaled by a highly accurate throw after split-seconds hesitation. Without pausing he jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the descending blade of the Sith leader as he landed heavily where the Green-robed figure had been only seconds ago._

_Whilst this had been going on, the woman had been more than holding her own against her opponents. Liara noticed the two Jedi had very different fighting styles. The woman was much more defensive in her fencing, waiting for her opponents to make a mistake and then capitalising on it whilst the man was more attacking, taking the fight to his opponent._

_She 'stood' transfixed by the duels raging on around her. The female guardian dispatched one of her opponents as the brutal duel between the sentinel and the marauder raged back and forth. The sith was slowly gaining ground against his Jedi opponent._

"_Even with all your tricks, the dark-side has made me more powerful than you can imagine. You have too many rules."_

_In a blur of movement, the Jedi threw his remaining lightsaber towards his opponent, rolled under the wild swing that grazed his side and pulled out a small pistol from under his robe. He pulled the trigger, once, then twice as he went past, putting a 'round' into the back of each knee where there was less protection. The Jedi was already back on his feet before the Sith had crumpled to floor. He was moving slower than before, holding his side where the lightsaber had cut through the cloth of his robe and burned the skin underneath._

"_Come back to the academy Harper. It's never to late to renounce the darkness."_

"_You are powerful, even more so than I thought. Together we could change the galaxy."_

_The male Jedi kicked the Sith's weapons away and levelled the pistol at the prone figure._

"_I don't want to destroy you, but I will if you leave me no other options."_

_It was all over in a split second, the Sith pulled one of the discarded lightsabers towards him, but before the handle had even crossed half the distance, the Jedi shot the Sith twice in the chest and once in the head with practised efficiency. _

_He looked up from the body, directly to where Liara was stood with a quizzical look on his face. She froze. She was looking right into those blue eyes she'd first noticed a month ago on the hanger deck of the Normandy._

"_Are you ok Kir?"_

"_Yeah.. I thought I saw... something, but it's gone now."_

_Kir turned towards the female Jedi._

"_We can get that burn looked at back at the shelter. They don't have any bacta but they have plenty of those bug things."_

"_Thanks a bunch Siha. You know just how to make a guy feel so much better"_

_Kir turned and picked his lightsabers off the floor, his face grimacing in pain when he lent over for the first handle. The second one he pulled from where it had dropped after he'd thrown it at the apprentice, catching it easily as it flew through the air._

"_Come to __Zonama Sekot__ you said. Once in a life time opportunity you said. I should have known you'd drag me into something like this after the last time I was on leave and you had some idea about exploring Lehon. For someone who was dubbed 'Shield of the Jedi' you sure go out of your __way to find fights."_

_The Jedi Kir had referred to as Siha just smiled._

"_Says the 'Sword of the Jedi' and the first true Weapons Master in living history? I'll take that as a compliment."_


	11. Tuchunka

**16th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**08:30 zulu**

**Tuchunka**

Vega span round, shotgun ready to take out the last Marauder, only to see it crumple from a well placed shot that melted what remained the indoctrinated turian's face. Thirty meters away, River smiled and holstered her gun.

"Fascinating technology... The mixing of organic and tech like this, not to mention the dextro-amino balance.. It's incredible."

"What it is, River, is horrific. You should be grateful that you can't feel the anguish they are in, and the relief when the end comes for them."

Kir picked his way through the corpses littered around the arena. Most where reaper forces, husks and marauders with the occasional brute, but some where Krogan who'd died to defend their radioactive hunk of rock. He stopped briefly to help Liara back on her feet after she'd been thrown aside by one of the colossal brutes that had come crashing through.

"What do you mean blades?"

"Well; Turians have phenomenal mental discipline, it's why I have so much trouble getting more than the slightest of contact. It's also a curse in this case; they can see and feel everything they are being made to do. "

Vega noticed that both River and Liara had a look, like they knew what Kir was talking about.

"My mother said that there was no way to totally cure indoctrination... She asked us to kill her at Noveria rather than fall back under Sovereign's influence ."

It wasn't a surprise to Vega, he'd read every single report filed and watched every second of combat footage associated with the commander before the reapers hit Earth. He did note Kir's lack of reaction to the news, telling Vega that he already knew what had gone down, and properly better than Vega did if the scuttlebutt was true. He couldn't see River's reaction, she was already scanning the remains of the Reaper forces, attempting to pull any more information that the tech-nerds had missed or couldn't read with their technology.

"I've felt this kind of evil before. Only a few times, but it's something you don't soon forget."

"Care to explain?"

"Not now; It's something that everyone needs to hear. You'll like it though Vega, plenty of war stories, heroic acts, beating the odds. You know, the kind of stuff you and Garrus like to talk about instead of actually playing Poker."

* * *

**16th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**10:00 zulu**

**SSV Normandy, Hanger Bay**

"History will remember Mordin Solus as the one who gave his life so that the Krogan could begin again. It will record him, rightly so, as a hero of this war, but I wanted to speak to you about the man..."

"Dulius, I have a question. I would normally ask Shepard, but he is tasked to capacity."

Kir looked over to EDI's physical avatar.

"Sure."

"The Salarian's believe in a wheel of life, and we where unable to recover Professor Solus' body. Why, then, are we having a funeral service?"

"It's a sign of respect for those who have died. He fought along side a few of the crew against the Collectors, and he made one hell of an impression on those he met recently. The Krogan will also honour his sacrifice in their own way."

"I wonder if I would be missed should I cease to function."

Kir had a brief vision of a wall of red energy rushing across the galaxy, destroying advanced intelligence.

"You'd be missed, mourned as a friend and comrade. But remember, no-one truly dies until their words and deeds are forgotten."

"So, through saving the Krogan raise, and also his working with me, Mordin has gained immortality."

"Not yet EDI... first we've got to blow every single last Reaper out of the sky."


	12. Cerberus Coup Part 1

**Authors Note: Sorry for the delays, work has been pretty busy, plus Leviathan really screwed where I wanted to take the story *shakes fist* .. So I'm going to have to work round it. **

**18th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**15:00 zulu**

**The Citadel**

Liara opened her eyes, looking up at the 'sky'. Everything was slightly blurred, and all she could hear was ringing. There where much fewer sky cars in the air than normal, and her right leg felt like someone was driving a red-hot poker through it, but she couldn't remember why.

"Can you stand Asari? Cerberus troops are already deploying in our area."

She felt, rather than heard, Javik's particle beam fire once, twice and then a third time, and she turned her in time to see a fourth Cerberus trooper wreathed in green energy. The fifth trooper proved too much for Javik, who was also in a bad way, firing his arc projector on what looked like a low power setting, dropping the Prothean to the ground, but keeping him alive.

"Kill T'Soni, take the Prothean alive. Those where the orders. He'll pay us big money for today's work."

Liara reached for the sidearm that had been thrown clear of it's clamp in the crash. She knew it was out of arms reach, but if she could just pull it with her biotics she might have a chance. It wobbled a little and was started to skitter along the floor. Her heart sank when out of nowhere a booted foot landed on it.

"Really? And how much would he pay for me? Basically; Run."

The last thing Liara saw before slipping back in unconsciousness was the bottom of a familiar looking, bottle green robe.

* * *

**18th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**14:00 zulu**

**The Citadel**

"Shepard's last transmission came from the other side of this door, but the panel isn't responding."

"Do you know if these doors are magnetically sealed?"

Liara looked over at Kir, a look of confusion on her face.

"Never mind... Just stand out of the way."

Kir pulled his pistol from it's holster and pulled the trigger. When it burned a small divot into door, Kir re-holstered the pistol, and took one of his lightsabers off his belt.

"You plan to cut through the door? A primitive tactic."

A stream of Asari curses went through Liara's mind, along with an image of graphic violence being caused to the Prothean. She could have sworn that she'd not shown anything externally, but Kir caught her eye with a half-smile and a knowing wink.

"Stop courting and cut the door Jedi."

"Only as you asked so nicely. Just make sure nothing tries to shoot me whilst I'm busy being all primitive."

A familiar snap-hiss filled the corridor, and Kir drove the blade into the metal.

Liara turned round, aiming her heavy pistol back down the corridor. The minutes passed slowly as Kir cut through the metal. Around them the muted sounds of battle could be heard as Marines, C-Sec, and anyone with a weapon where battling the Cerberus troops.

"About half way done. The metal is cutting a lot easier than I was expecting."

It was about then the small detachment troopers stumbled across them. A well placed grenade from Javik took out the two lead troopers and Liara dropped the second two with well placed shots from her Phalanx. The final trooper managed to fire a single round, which cracked against Liara's barriers before being burned by Javik's Particle Rifle.

"How's that door going?"

"Almost... there."

There was a loud clang and the sound of Kir shutting off his lightsaber.

"Ok, we're good. Just don't touch the edges."

Kir ducked under the remains of the door and leapt across the assorted tables and chairs, landing about halfway down the stairs. He raced to door, but as he got there, he realised it ended in a sky car parking area.

"If... you're... looking.. for.. Shepard.. he's.. chasing.. Kai... Lang."

Kir turned and saw the figure slumped against the wall.

"Thane. Are you ok?"

Liara came to a stop next to the figure.

"He's been stabbed, there's a lot of bleeding. Who is he?"

"I.. was with Shepard.. when we attacked the Collectors."

"He also helped me take down the Shadow Broker. Is there anything you can do?"

"You and Javik go after Shepard, I'll catch up when I can."

Kir watched Liara and Javik leave before turning back to Thane.

"There isn't much point... Even if you stop the bleeding.. I am dying."

"First thing is to stop the bleeding and keep you alive for the moment... Then, if we're just a little bit lucky, I might have something that can help you."

"I thank you.. but there is no known cure for my condition."

"The Barabel actually have a similar condition that can develop if they spend a long time on very humid planets like Mon Calamari; A quick bacta treatment and they're good to go... Yeah; I'm not from around here."

Kir focussed on the task in hand. He knew the basics of healing with the force, you basically just pointed energy at the wound and it sorted itself out, but he'd spent most of his life working out how to put holes **into** people. Time seemed to slow and the sound drained from the world. Under his hand he could feel the muscle and flesh knit back together. Thane was lucky, the blade that had caused the injury was so sharp that it had sliced through everything cleanly, it was making the whole process much easier. After what seemed like an hour, but was closer to five minutes, the wound had fully closed.

"You'll need a transfusion, but you'll be ok for the moment."

Kir stood up and turned to leave.

"I've let Bailey know where you are. I've got to catch up with Liara and Javik."

"Arashu, goddess of motherhood and protection, guide this one that he may protect those he holds closest to him."

Kir didn't hear the prayer, he'd already jumped in an abandoned skycar.


	13. Cerberus Coup Part 2

**18th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**15:00 zulu**

**The Presidium Level, The Citadel**

"Kill T'Soni, take the Prothean alive. Those were the orders. He'll pay us big money for today's work."

Kir landed heavily between the Cerberus troops and Liara and Javik, much more heavily than he'd been intending.

"Really? And how much would he pay for me? Basically; Run."

The Cerberus troopers looked at each other. Kir could feel the fear and confusion radiating off them, he smiled. He could use that and hopefully avoid a fight, he was exhausted and could feel the blood seeping out of the wound caused by the Phantom.

"You must have seen the footage from the academy. Do you really want to do this?"

The trooper with the arc projector fired first, hoping to stun or kill him as quickly as possible. Kir charged the trooper, disarming him a quick movement that popped a shoulder out of place, and followed it up with a kick that sent the trooper flying back into a comrade, and them both over the ledge. Kir ducked and turned, avoiding the rounds sent his way and discharged the arc projector as a group of three troopers came into view, they dropped, either unconscious or dead, it didn't matter at that instant, they where out of the fight. Still turning, Kir threw the projector, now totally out of ammo, towards the final group. The weapon flew true, giving him enough time to get back on his feet. The lightsaber in his left hand erupted into life as he closed the distance in quick strides, swatting a handful of shots out of the air before engaging the final five troopers. The fight was as brutal as it was short; The first trooper went down to a quick thrust, the second lost an arm before being decapitated, the third took the thrown lightsaber full in the chest and the last two went down grasping at their throats from accurate blaster shots.

He limped over to where his lightsaber was and pulled it out of the troopers chest. Every single one of his family on his father's side had the same trait, they couldn't move anything bigger than a pebble unless they where pumped full of 'borrowed' energy. Only Kir had shown any natural ability with telekinesis, and even then it was wild and unpredictable.

"Dulius by name, but you can't deny you're anything but a Halcyon. Well; A Halcyon plus what mum brought to the 'party'."

Kir limped back over to where Liara and Javik where lying. Javik was already starting to come round, his two pairs of eyes blinking, if a little unfocussed. Kir's priority was Liara, her leg was obviously broken, and she was bleedy from a wide range of different cuts and scrapes. Kir went to get the medigel, but froze when he felt the cold metal of a gun barrel being pressed against the back of his head.

"Make a move for one of your fancy swords and I'll blow your brains out. Get the hell away from my daughter."

* * *

**18th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**15:00 zulu**

**Council Shuttle Pad, The Citadel**

".. You died on Virmire Ash. I saw the explosion, watched the readout from your suit flat-line. You couldn't have survived that, so why should I trust you, who ever you are."

Ashley, Shepard and Garrus each shared uneasy looks. The last thing they'd expected after chasing Kai Lang was to be in a showdown with Alenko.

"It's hard to explain, the Doctor rattled off some very technical words, which only EDI seemed to understand."

Ashley could almost feel the glare from Shepard and Garrus, and she knew exactly what they where thinking. She felt like an idiot for mentioning, very casually, the unshackled AI that had been made by Cerberus of all groups.

"Kaiden, listen, you've got to trust me. I know what Cerberus is capable of; The Illusive Man wanted me to keep the Collector base, he authorised the Overlord Project, and you saw with your own eyes what they did on Mars."

Shepard lowered his pistol and indicated for Ashley and Garrus to do the same.

"I'd better not regret this Shepard."

Kadien turned around towards where the council where located.

"Councillor Udina. Step away from the other council members please."

It happened in a blur. Udina produced a sidearm from seemingly nowhere, pushed the Asari councillor to the floor, but before he could act, three shots rang out in near unison, one each from Shepard, Ashley and Garrus. Udina was dead before he'd hit the floor.

* * *

**19th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**00:45 zulu**

**The Citadel**

Shepard pushed his way through the hustle and bustle of the hospital. Every available space was taken up by the injuries caused by the attack. He managed to get a hold of one the Doctors who looked like they were taking a much needed five minutes.

"I'm looking for some of my crew members."

The obviously over-stretched doctor just looked over in Shepard's vague direction.

"Alliance hospital is back the way you came."

"The crew members aren't alliance. I'm looking for a human male, an asari and drell male as well."

"Sounds like the set up to a bad joke. They're just along the corridor. We put them in the same room since they knew each other. They've got visitors mind; some pilot with his mobility mech, what looked like a rubbish bin on wheels and a drell. The other... Crew member went back to your ship."

"Thanks Doc."

He went along to the room indicated and went in. Kir had old-style bandages covering his right shoulder and chest, Liara was sat up in her bed with an assortment of medi-gel patches on and Joker was in the middle of teasing the both of them for crashing their sky cars.

"Shepard; Does your offer to rejoin the crew of the Normandy still stand?"

Shepard looked behind him to where Thane stood unobtrusively in the corner.

"Certainly, but no offence; I was expecting to see you on your deathbed."

"Dulius healed the injuries caused by Kai Lang. His.. people also have a powerful healing agent that holds the cure to Kepral's Syndrome."

Kir shrugged, or at least attempted to, resulting in a wince of pain.

"Bacta is fairly common healing agent, it's essentially like medi-gel but is used for stuff other than healing injuries, and pilots are issued this super-concentrated version called Kolto as part of their EE kits. This stuff can practically bring the dead back to life if you got enough of it to hand, you've got the time to spare and a bit of luck. Few years back you had to float around in a tank of the stuff, and for the really serious stuff, that still holds true. But for the easy stuff like a breaks, blaster wounds etc you just slap it on and grit your teeth."

"So if you've got this wonder medicine, why have you gone old school on the bandages?"

"Oh you know, he just wanted to get his shirt off in-front of Liara."

Not for the first time since getting to the hospital, Kir ran through a quick calming routine. He liked Joker, he even reminded Kir of the holo's he'd seen of Wes Janson in the Squadron archives, but damn it sometimes he was annoying.

"Thane and Liara needed it more than I did. What was left I figured would be useful for the Doctors to see if they could synthesise more."

Shepard nodded, half remembering what Hackett had said to him, that he wanted as many bullets, bodies and bandages he could find.

"EDI, I want a full chemical work up of this stuff sent over the Hackett.. "

EDI's avatar nodded.

"...Thane, get over to C-Sec and see what they need in terms of aid..."

Thane nodded and slipped out of the door.

".. Liara, get Feron in touch with Thane, see what you can rustle up to help C-Sec..."

"I can do organize the supplies myself Shepard."

"... No, you and Kir are on medical for the next thirty-six.. and Joker.."

"Commander?"

".. he can out fly you and outfight a Krogan. Just thought you might want to remember that."

* * *

"_Thermal Detonators, blaster pistols, vibro-blades, a spare lightsaber, Kolto shots and that's just what I can see in your EE pack. I've never seen you take so much gear into a fight before."_

_Siha looked at the man in front of her. Kir had been gone for months, and then out of the blue he'd returned, warning of an invasion that wouldn't take place for thousands of years, but would effectively end life as they knew it. It had taken hard work but the Council had finally acknowledged the possibility and sent out a call for volunteers; most of the Jedi where not warriors._

"_Remember our first day at the academy. We had that boring meditation class?"_

"_Yeah.. I remember, you snapped out of it after five minutes. You had a vision."_

_Kir nodded._

"_War, destruction, death. The breaking of the cycle."_

"_I remember.. you said you died."_

"_There is no death; There is only the force."_

"_You know damn well what I mean."_

_Siha noticed the hologram that was on the bed next to armoury that was Kir's Escape-Evasion box. Without thinking, she pressed the play button._

"_If you are hearing this; then there is still hope. Hope that you can avoid the same mistakes we made. We fought the Reapers, but we failed to stop them."_

_She paused the recording._

"_This is what you showed the council isn't it?"_

"_Amongst other things."_

"_She means a lot to you doesn't she?"_

_The silence answered the question. _

"_Who else is going back with you?"_

"_The Rogue's signed up immediately, Command asked for ships and soldiers from the third and sixth fleet, about fifty Jedi not counting Twin Suns and Wild Knightz squadrons, and a company of Yuuzhan Vong warriors."_

"_You missed something."_

"_I did?"_

"_Yes; Me."_


	14. Memories are made of this Part 2

_The X-Wing wobbled slightly, as it always did, when it passed through the mag-field. Liara's hands worked quickly over the familiar controls in-front of her, checking the various read-outs in the cockpit. Shields, weapons, propulsion, sensors and navigation all checked out at 100%, although she knew for certain that navigation wasn't going to be needed. _

"_Akuse Twelve to Elysium Station. How much time do you need."_

_The voice wasn't hers, it was male. And fairly young as well._

"_As long as you can can Akuse Twelve. Rogue Squadron is approximately thirty minutes out."_

"_Copy that. How is Lieutenant Elsey doing?"_

"_She's stable, but it's unlikely she'll fly again. Sorry."_

"_Thank you Elysium Station. May the Force be with you."_

"_And you Akuse Twelve."_

* * *

_"What have we got?"_

_" Male Human, Early twenties, pilot. Severe injuries including exposure, burns, at least one cracked rib, multiple cuts from where his canopy imploded and several shards of transparasteel have embedded themselves in his torso. That's not including concussion and fractured skull."_

_"My god. This man should be dead. Get him in a tank right away."_

_"Aye Aye sir. Colonel Anderson wants to know when he's strong enough for a debrief."_

_"What the hell does a Rogue want with him? Never mind; He'll be allowed to debrief when I say, not a moment sooner. And will someone get that damn astromech out from here._

* * *

_"How are you doing?"_

_Kir was so exhausted he hadn't even felt the approach of the officer. Even though he was wearing hospital clothes, designed only with keeping the modesty of the wearer in mind, he tried to stand and salute but nothing was responding as it should._

_"You've been in a tank for over a fortnight, and you've still got enough meds in your system to make a Wampaa docile. We've pulled what we can from the flight recorders, but we wanted to speak to you before going through the data."_

_"Yes sir."_

_"Start from the beginning."_

_"The escort was going well. Three flight where about ten clicks ahead of the main group, making sure that the transit path was clear. One flight was with the transports, and Two flight was about ten clicks behind. Captain Rudemo wanted to stay in the middle in case anything happened, she could get to either flight quickly."_

_The officer nodded. It was a sensible move, especially with a pair of relatively green pilots in the squadron._

"_One minute quiet as can be, the next these really old Acclamator Class ships just jump in right on top of us and open up. Before we'd even turned, Akuse Three had been destroyed, she ran right into one of the turbo-laser bolts. Before we'd even got half way back, only Rudemo was still flying. One X-Wing against two squadrons of eyeballs and one of squints. She vaped three of the squints and took an eyeball out of the fight, but the numbers overwhelmed her. A bolt went through nose of her fighter and blew the unspent torpedo's. Two flight came in just before we did, they didn't make the same mistake and they expended all their missiles and took down one of the Acclamtors. _

_By this point, the ships we where escorting where starting to clear the gravity well and where jumping to Elysium Station. Strange thing was, they didn't even seem all that interested in the shuttles, taking us out of the fight seemed to be much more important._

_Major Benson ordered Three flight to bug out and get back to the Station. The only reason myself and the LT made it out is 'cause we where already on the edges of the fight, mixing it up with the rest of the squints. The other two didn't make it clear._

_Getting back was hard work, we'd both taken hits, my astromech had been totally destroyed when a squint got a high deflection shot through my shields, and Elsey was barely conscious by the time we got out of the gravity well."_

"_What happened at Elysium station?"_

"_Once we'd managed to land, I got out of my bird and helped get Elsey out of hers. She'd past out just before we'd dropped out of hyper-space, her astromech brought the X-Wing in the whole way. Once she was clear, I worked with the civi mechanics and we stripped what we needed off my X-Wing to patch hers and transferred the remaining fuel and torps over. I knew there where coming back and we figured having one bird actually working would be better than two birds that weren't."_

"_What do you remember of the next engagement?"_

"_Not a lot Sir. Somewhere along the line, they picked up a squadron of dupes. I took out six with my torps, and another four with blaster fire. I was going for the last two when the Rogues showed up. Last thing I remember was a wing pair flashing past my canopy, I'd taken a few hits and the patches where starting to fail. Rogue Leader ordered me out of the fight, I pulled away, and the next thing I know I'm waking up in a sea of pink bacta, and I'd lost nearly two weeks."_

"_Rogue Six was hit by a pair of missiles. The explosion from his fighter shredded yours. When they got you back to the station, you where in a pretty bad way."_

_The officer handed Kir a datapad._

"_What's this Sir?"_

"_Orders. You are hereby promoted the rank of Lieutenant, with all the rights and responsibilities the rank entails. You are also ordered to report to your new unit once you have been declared medically fit."_

"_Which unit is that Sir?"_

"_Rogue Squadron. Colonel Anderson was impressed with your skill, unorthodox tactics and calm under fire."_


	15. The Ardat-Yakshi

**Authors Note: **Apologies for the delay, I'd forgotten what happened (roughly) during the Lesuss side-quest, and I wanted to catch up with my current play through before attempting to write the rest. This meant that I could put some time/ thought into the next chapter at the same time.

**24th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**22:30 zulu**

**Ardat-Yakshi Monastery, Lesuss**

"Torches."

The whispered instruction seemed to reverberate around the walls of the pitch black hall. Five lights lit up behind Shepard before he lit up his own light on his Carnifex. They where going in heavy, but the intel Liara had discovered said that several Asari Commando unit had gone missing. He still remembered his first experience going toe-to-toe with Asari Commandos in the cold of Noveria, even the Eclipse mercs he'd encountered during his fight against the Collectors.

"I've got a bad feeling about this place. Something is very wrong here."

Both Garrus and Ash clicked their mics once; the near universal sign for agreement. Alenko was still being quiet, and Shepard wasn't sure if that was new stoic professionalism, or if he was still embarrassed at nearly shooting him at the Citidel.

"Going to need something a little bit more concrete Dulius."

"It's hard to explain. The intel said that the Reapers where here, but when have you known them to simply give up and go home. Especially as there don't seem to that many signs of battle. We've found a few bodies sure, but nothing like we should. It's almost as if..."

Kir trailed off. Everyone knew something was wrong.

"What is it."

Liara's soft voice seemed out of place in the deep darkness.

"Long ago, an enemy of the Jedi created something terrible. It literally hunted us down one by one. Every Jedi is 'taught' how to recognise it, even though we get on well enough with the group now."

"Spirits. Who'd **want** to take on one Jedi, never mind all of them."

The team where still searching the first room with attention to detail, but Shepard was also curious as to who would want to take on a whole group of Jedi. Before they'd left the Citidel for here, Javik had given the closest thing to a compliment he'd uttered since being thawed out on Eden Prime.

"We have people who want us destroyed. Point is; I felt something at Tuchunka, but it was much weaker, I couldn't tell what it was. But it's that same damn feeling; Voxyn.. or worse."

"What can be worse than someone specifically designed to hunt down Jedi."

"I don't know Williams. And that concerns me."

The silence was uneasy as they continued to search the room for information and more evidence of what had gone on.

"Commander, I've got something here. Looks like a data-pad from a Commando unit."

"Good work Alenko; heading over to you know."

* * *

**24th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**23:00 zulu**

**Ardat-Yakshi Monastery, Lesuss**

"You are very good Commander, I almost didn't hear you. Impressive considering the size of the team with you. What do humans call it; Going in heavy?"

Shepard, Garrus and Liara lowered their weapons instantly.

"Samara. What are you doing here?"

Kir, Ashley and Kaiden who still had their weapons pointed at the Justicar lowered their weapons when they realised she was friendly. Liara noticed however that Kir hadn't totally relaxed, and his free hand was hovering near one of his lightsabers, he'd been on edge ever since the first hall.

"You remember my daughter Morinth?"

Shepard nodded, slowly.

"My other daughters live here. When the alarm was raised, my duty was clear."

"The commando's where planning to set a bomb in the Main Hall."

Before Samara could respond, there was a blood curdling screech.

"Your daughters are nearby. It's hard to tell where, the force is so full of evil it's hard to get anything specific."

Samara looked at Kir, confusion, or at least as much confusion as a Justicar would ever admit to on her face.

"It's complicated. Go ahead Justicar, we'll catch up."

Samara nodded to Liara and vaulted over the railings, using her biotics to slow her descent.

"Are you ok?"

"I'll be fine Liara, lets just get this over with. This place is bringing back some unpleasant memories."

* * *

**24th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**23:15 zulu**

**Ardat-Yakshi Monastery, Lesuss**

"Ok.. that is defiantly not a Voxyn!"

The screeching monstrosity had finally stopped walking long enough for the group to start firing. The staccato of automatic fire filled the courtyard in an attempt to take down the powerful barriers. The barrier was almost opaque from the impacts before it finally collapsed. Even then underlying armour much tougher than it should have been. Garrus, Ashley and Shepard switched to their sniper rifles, opting for the higher-impact slugs over the gnat bites they where currently attempting to use. They where sighting, firing and reloading as quickly as possible, and not for the first time Shepard cursed Alliance R+D for cleaning out the Normandy's armoury when he'd handed it over, taking his Widow rifle away as well as the various heavy weapons, assault rifles and smg's that he'd collected during the fight with the collectors.

The.. thing finally fell to a powerful biotic explosion, it crumpled to it's knees, screeching the whole way. The team closed the distance slightly just in case it showed signs of getting back up, but it disintegrated.

"Edi; are you monitoring our video feeds?"

"_Affirmative Commander."_

"I want that video sent to Hackett right away. That was something... new"

There was more screeching and the muted sounds of battle towards where the nav location in Shepard's HUD told him was the entrance to the great hall.

"Ok people; lets move out."

* * *

**25th August 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**01:30 zulu**

**Ardat-Yakshi Monastery, Lesuss**

"Are you ok?"

Kir approached the lone Jusitcar, who was sat on her own, surveying the wreckage of the monastery.

"A year ago I had three daughters. I killed one with my own hands, and the other sacrificed herself rather than submit to the Reapers.. I will survive."

Kir looked at Samara, both with his eyes and through the force. Visually she was the model of calm, but poised and ready to strike without hesitation or regret. The force painted a different picture. She was blazing with anger, but there was a deep current of sadness and regret.

"We'll beat the Reapers."

"What makes you so certain?"

Kir was silent. Shepard and the rest of the Normandy crew had found it hard enough to understand the fact he could sometimes "see" the future. Only the Doctor had attempted to explain, and everyone, including Kir, had been unable to follow after the first five minutes.

"You see the Commander. Publicly he's fighting for the Galaxy, or Humanity, or just Earth. But we both know that you can't fight for those kind of ideals, they're just too big. He's fighting for Ashley. We'll beat them because we have to."

"And what does a Jedi fight for?"

"I can't tell you what **a** Jedi would fight for. **My** reasons are.. complicated."

Kir heard, then saw the shuttle from the Normandy coming into approach, it's engines a bright blue against the night sky.

"Until the next time; Justicar."

Kir nodded his head in respect.

"Until we meet again; Master Jedi"

Kir turned and made his way towards the shuttle.


	16. Talking Shop

_He leans in and kisses her gently on the lips. She's nervous at first, but relaxes after a few moments. Her arms slip up behind his neck and pull him in closer, she silently thanks the Human romantic films she'd downloaded when she was on the first Normandy. He slowly pulls back and smiles gently._

"_Rule 10: Always leave them wanting just a little bit more."_

"_You'll have to write these rules down for me one day."_

"_..and here was me thinking you where some big-bad information broker."_

"_True; I'll just have to get Beaker to join my network of informers"_

"_Regular oil baths and someone who really likes having odds quoted at them should do the trick."_

_Liara smiled._

"_You know; Rule 10 is stupid."_

* * *

**2nd September 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**13:00 zulu**

**Presidium Commons, The Citadel **

It hardly felt like it had been five minutes since they'd last visited the Citadel, but yet again they were back. Shepard was still trying to track down the Leviathan of Dis, and he was hoping Anne Bryson would be able to secure. Everyone else was taking the time to get some shore-leave before heading back out into the thick of it. Kir was sat at one of the tables of Apollo's Café, having received a pair of interesting emails after the raid of the Monastery

"Want another drink babe?"

Kir looked up from his datapad to the Asari waitress.

"That depends; Are you going to put a gun against my head again?"

Aethyta smiled slightly and put a pair of drinks on the table. One was human coffee, black and fresh, not like the stuff they had on the Normandy, the other was green and the smell reminded Kir of the fuel used by his X-Wing.

"I just want to talk. Besides I don't need a gun to turn you into paste if I wanted to."

Kir took a carefully measured mouthful of the new coffee, enjoying the taste of it, and letting the warm of it spread out through his body. He knew what Aethyta was trying to do; Provoke a response that you can use to put the other person on the defensive. He also wasn't about to let it happen, he was a Jedi after all, even if the person in front of him had over a thousand years experience in pissing people off.

"I'd like to see you try."

Kir took another deliberately slow drink of the coffee, he could feel the annoyance rise in Aethyta, and he noted with a small amount of pride that he was starting to get a read on the subtitles various aliens in this galaxy without having to know them well.

"Where did you learn to fight like that? It seemed part Drell Assassin, part Krogan Battlemaster. I've never seen a human move that fast who wasn't in the middle of a Biotic charge."

Kir smiled. Aethyta wanted to talk shop for the moment. It was an ice-breaker and they both knew it. He was a total unknown to her, and she obviously knew that something was going between him and Liara. She was simply being a protective dad.

"Well; A Jedi's power comes from the force..."

* * *

**2nd September 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**18:30 zulu**

**The Presidium, The Citadel **

"Commander Shepard, it's a pleasure to see you again, despite the circumstances. You travel with interesting people these days."

"Shi'ira, need me to talk to another Turian General?"

The consort laughed softly.

"Not at all Commander, although Nelyna did say she'd seen you speaking to Septimus before the... attack. I actually wanted to speak to you, Colonel Dulius and the Doctor."

Kir remembered the conversation on the way over from the Commons. The asari in front of him was much older than she looked, her 'advice' was well sought after, and she was exceptionally insightful. Kir also couldn't much of a reading on her, she radiated an aura of calm that seemed to hid anything else about her.

"Any words you have for us we will gladly listen to."

Shi'ira smiled at the Doctor, and then turned back to Shepard.

"Do you mind if we start with you Commander? For once, you are the least complex one in the room."

Shepard nodded.

"You carry a great weight on your shoulders Commander; of those we've already lost, and those who we will loose in the fight to come. But you must learn to share the load or it will destroy you. Tell her what she wants to hear and what you need to say."

Next she turned to the Doctor.

"You're face is young, but the eyes are old. They've seen many heroic deeds, and just as many dark acts. You also carry great knowledge and even greater and dangerous secrets.

Once before you where faced with a choice that only you could make, that only you could survive. That choice defines you now, every word you say, every action you do carries with it the after-shocks of that day. The time is coming when you will have to revisit that Moment."

Finally she turned to Kir.

"You saw something when you were young that made you choose the path you walk now. You could have become something totally different; Part of you still pulls away from the fighter you have become, yet you know that the only way to leave this path is to die.

The three of you are tasked with the impossible. We look to you to not only fight the Reapers, but to prevail. If you fall, the Galaxy will fall with you."


	17. Rolling in the Deep Part 1

**Authors Note: **Yes I know.. lots of updates recently! I wrote most of this on my iPod travelling on various trains during the day.

Also; Finally getting into the area where I have a really good idea of what is going to happen

Last thing; Thanks for all the follows, the few reviews etc. Nice to know that people actually want to read this

* * *

**19th September 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**07:00 zulu**

**SVV Normandy, On Route to 2181 Despoina**

"Come on Thane. Stop _trying _to hit me and actually do it."

The two figures moved across the shuttle bay of the Normandy, punches, kicks, blocks and counters forming an elaborate and blurred dance. A kick aimed at Kir's mid -section was caught with his free hand, and Kir dropped and rolled, dragging the lighter, off balance Drell down, and underneath, bringing the wooden practise "sword" to rest against Thane's neck. It was the ninth time he'd "died" that morning.

"Your mate is a good fighter Asari, but I do not understand what he is attempting to teach"

"Thane knows how to kill, Kir is teaching him how to fight."

Liara and Javik watched as Kir and Thane went at it again The tempo was even faster than the previous bout, arms and legs moving with such speed and precision that it was hard to track. Thane used a throw to knock Kir onto his back, flicked the "sword" up into his hand using his foot and went on the attack. The first swing bounced off the floor as Kir rolled away, and back on to his feet. Still on the attack, Thane pressed home the advantage backing Kir slowly towards a corner. The second slash cut through the air as Kir shifted his body to avoid the attack, and the quick follow up ran straight into an Omni-Shield that had jumped into life from Kir's Omni-tool. Thane staggered slightly from the feedback of the impact and gave Kir the opening he'd been waiting for. In a quick movement he pushed the "blade" to one side with the shield, and delivered a short, sharp and powerful head-butt that left Thane flat on his back, his eyes unfocused and moving slowly. Kir, who had quickly shook of the effects, disarmed Thane and "killed" him for the Tenth time that morning.

Kir smiled and helped Thane back up to his feet.

"I think we're done for today. That last one was much better though; Control and speed were superb, and nice improvisation with the throw, I wasn't expecting that at all."

"You still defeated me"

"You ran into Rules 3, 8 and 9"

"Which are?"

" Rule 3; Have something your opponent doesn't know about..."

"Like the Omni-shield"

"Exactly."

"And the other rules?"

"Rule 8; Someone comes at you with a weapon you take them out of the fight and ask questions later. Rule 9 you already started doing; If in doubt, improvise."

"You teach all your students with such hands on methods?"

"I've never had a padawn if that's what your asking. I've given a few "advanced combat" lessons at the academy for some of the more.. advanced learners."

* * *

**19th September 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**16:40 zulu**

**Underwater, 2181 Despoina**

"You killed a Reaper. I need to know why."

_**"They are the enemy. One that seeks our extermination."**_

"But; I thought you where a Reaper."

_**"They are only echoes. We existed long before."**_

"Then what are you?"

_**"Something more."**_

The form hovered over Shepard to physically intimidate him as well as the mental pressure it was exerting. Shepard felt his eyes close, and when he opened them he was somewhere else. It was dark, and almost impossible for him to breath.

_"...it, the...tivity just we... arts"_

The sound was far away, on the edge of his hearing, but he didn't care.

_**"Your mind is mine..."**_

The projection in front of him was flicking between people he knew. Ashley, Kaiden, Joker, Vega, Liara, Kir, the Doctor, Cortez, Kir. The figure froze on the Jedi in full robes.

_**"Who is this man!"**_

Shepard tried to speak, but couldn't find the strength to think against such a powerful mind crushing down on his own.

"Jedi Master Kir Dulius, although the people of Zonama Sekot have a different name for me."

Shepard saw a second Dulius walking up to his side, become more "solid" with every step. He reached the Commander, knelt down next to him and rested a hand on him.

"Just hang on. You'll be fine in a bit"

"_**You... Jeedai scum."**_

"I take it you two know each other then?"

Shepard looked at the second apparition. Tall, skinny, Scottish sounding. No-one he knew.

"Sorry... first time I've done this since my last regeneration. Psychic projections can take a while to update. Last time I was this closely connected to a mind would have been... Reinette Poisson. Hang on..."

The form melted into the features and mannerisms of the Doctor.

".. As I was saying. You two have met then?"

The figure in-front of them had changed into the form of Leviathan.

"Not that I know of. It's been a very long time since the 'Jeedai' have been called scum. These days it's mostly Jeedai, or you know, Jedi.

Whatever you have become, you at least remember what you once where... somewhere deep in your genetic memory."

The Doctor and Shepard looked at Kir.

"What is it?"

"_**We are the apex predator of this galaxy..."**_

"Maybe; Once. But before that, you were Yammosk."


	18. Rolling in the Deep Part 2

**19th September 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**16:50 zulu**

**Under water, 2181 Despoina**

"Here's what I don't get; Yammosks back then only just qualified as sentient creatures. You were used to co-ordinate the fleets of the Yuuzhan Vong, particularly the Coralskippers, it was what gave you such an a devastating advantage in the early years of the war.. How did you go from the role of War Co-ordinator to a power in your own right?"

_**"When we arrived in this galaxy, we where dying. Those that created us integrated us more fully with the ships we travelled in to prevent our deaths. In time we became completely merged, so that ship and Yammosk where the same. **_

_**In time those you call the Yuuzhan Vong began to die, and there were not enough to begin with to create a viable population. The.. shapers gave us free will in the hopes that we might be able to return, or failing that create something here."**_

"Yorrik Coral needs to be fed with rocks to heal... That's how you discovered Element Zero."

"_**What you call Element Zero allowed us to jump further than previously possible before needing to consume fuel. We encountered lesser races that we where able to bend to our will, and they mined more food for us, and later became our eyes and ears during the cycles."**_

"What happened. How did you go from ruling the galaxy to hiding from the Reapers?"

"_**We encountered a race of synthetics, much like the 'Geth' of this cycle. They where fighting and destroying any organic species in their way. We stopped them at great cost to ourselves, and even greater cost to those we commanded in battle.**_

_**We constructed a machine to help us prevent such uprising again. We gave it instructions to take the steps necessary to ensure that Synthetics wouldn't threaten organics in the same way again."**_

The Doctor was 'pacing' round the area they were in. He wasn't used to not being the one getting the information and jumping ahead of the other being's story. It was annoying him.

"You created a machine to prevent a machine uprising. Now, I've seen a lot of stupid things in my time, and few of them where even things I was responsible for, but this really is new levels of foolish."

"_**We believed that we had full control of the machine..."**_

"But it betrayed you. It killed your people in a swift ambush."

"_**It didn't kill us; that would have been a mercy. It incapacitated us, took us to an unknown location and... melted us down. It combined our genetic material with that of another species, and from the combination, the one known as Harbinger was created."**_

This last bit got the Doctor's interest.

"Which species?"

"_**We don't know. Until the ambush we were not even aware of their existence."**_

"Will.. you... help us.. fight the Reapers."

"_**We have spent countless cycles hiding Commander Shepard, and they have not found us yet. Fighting now would only doom us to total extinction"**_

"We found you, and the Reapers were shadowing the teams that were doing the research that led us here. It's safe to assume that they are on their way here to finish it."

There was a long pause, it was obvious to Shepard, Kir and the Doctor that Leviathan was trying to come to a decision.

"_**We will fight, although we would like to know, what happened to the Yuuzhan Vong? The fact the Jeedai still exist would indicate that you won."**_

"No-one wins a war like that, all you can do is survive. Yes, we beat the Yuuzhan Vong in the end, but the casualties on both sides are still impossible to calculate."

"_**So, they are no more?"**_

"It would be easier for me to show you than explain."

Kir closed his eyes and concentrated. Alter-mind was another hallmark of the Halcyon legacy, it was how he was projecting himself and the Doctor into Shepard's mind in the first place. It was, however, difficult to directly communicate with Leviathan.

"_**...The title they gave you; It is a great honour. A name that the Warriors feared, and one that the Shamed revered.**_

_**About Five thousand of your years ago, a ship crashed here. The technology didn't match anything from the cycles, but having touched your mind, it could be one of yours." **_

"Thank you, we'll take a look. Shepard, Garrus, Cortez and Ash are still on the surface, we'll let them know you're on your way back."

Shepard watched as Kir and the Doctor 'walked' away, dissolving as they went.

* * *

**20th September 2186 (Earth Calendar)**

**01:50 zulu**

**SSV Normandy, Out bound from 2181 Despoina**

"Begin playback"

Kir was both physically and mentally exhausted, the 'conversation' with Leviathan had taken it's toll, but he couldn't sleep after what they'd pulled from the wreckage of the freighter they'd salvaged on 2181 Desponia.

"Jedi Dulius, first name unknown, was a Jedi Sentinel that came to prominence during the Republic-Sith war approximately three hundred years after the fall of Darth Malak.

A talented warrior, Dulius was often seen wielding duel lightsabers, a fighting style that whilst uncommon during this period, was the trade mark of a number of notable members of the order in this period including Revan and Meetra Surik. However this style also occasionally got him into trouble, having on numerous occasions gotten himself into situations were back up was required.

Soon after being knighted, he was approached by the Order of Spectres (a relatively loose and unorthodox mix of Jedi, smugglers and Republic special operations that operated with much less oversight than traditional units) which he joined , taking part in numerous engagements and decisive actions across the galaxy and earned the reputation of getting the job done whilst not compromising the ideals of the order.

It should be noted, however that whilst he was dedicated to the light and the Jedi order as a whole, he was a vocal opponent of the traditional view that Jedi should not have relationships, an opinion that contributed to the reluctance of the council to allow him on the masters council, despite the skills and abilities he'd displayed on countless occasions."

Kir looked at the holo-projection of his ancestor, the similarities in appearance was surprising, the only differences if note being the scaring near the right eye, presumably from a close call in a lightsaber dual.

"By the goddess, he looks exactly like you."

Kir hardly jumped, he hadn't felt her approach, but he'd found it much harder to detect biotics unless he was actively looking for them and almost impossible to influence with the force.

"It happens sometimes; Genetic traits, abilities and sometimes even temperaments can skip a few generations. Though I've never heard of it skipping nearly five thousand years worth."

"... And now you sound like the Doctor. Come on, even a Jedi needs to get some sleep."

Liara's soothing voice finally made Kir realise just how exhausted he really was.

"Yeah... I'll be there now in a minute."

He looked quickly at the Mandalorian helmet that was the only other item of note in ship, at least to him, and decided it would keep till morning. He gathered holocron and the helmet from the table and made his way to Liara's quarters.

* * *

_The figure approached Kir, walking slowly. The footsteps echoing despite the fact there was nothing for the sound to reflect off. Slowly he recognised the figure approaching, it was the Dulius from the Holocron._

"_Hello."_

_The figure smiled. It was strange looking at a face so remarkably similar to his own, but different in so many subtle ways._

"_When I saw the holocron, it was like looking into a mirror. I thought that maybe you where a future version of me, but you aren't, I can tell that now."_

"_What makes you say that?"_

"_Well; mostly because folding back on your own timeline can totally screw with causality, which has the small bi-product of the universe ending. Even I wouldn't risk that._

_Secondly; You don't feel like you are, call it intuition, but I think that the Holocron is pretty accurate in terms of the information is has on you."_

_The figure nodded._

"_You've met Leviathan."_

"_Yes; It pointed me to the freighter, I assume that you had something to do with that."_

"_Not quite, but like you I had a vision, and I did my best to make sure the pieces would fall into place._

_What did you think?"_

"_Not the whole story, but they either can't remember, or they don't know."_

"_Very perceptive."_

"_You also influenced what the consort saw. Giving each of us just enough information to start to piece it all together. You could of course tell me, but that would defeat the point of it. It's a common misconception that knowledge is half the battle. You need the context of it, the process of gaining it to truly be able to wield it."_

_The force ghost smiled again._

"_Does The Doctor know yet."_

"_I think he's starting to put bits and pieces together. Some things come out in conversations, but he's not get anything solid."_

_Did you see what else was in the freighter?"_

"_The helmet? At a guess, it's an old Mandalore Helmet. _

_Well; by old I mean 'it's been sat in water for a very very long time'. Couldn't tell you which one it belonged to."_

"_One last question; What did you see in the Holocron?"_

"_The obvious answer is 'Everything I needed to see' but if you've taken the time to set this up then that isn't the answer that you want to hear, or I'm supposed to give._

_What I saw was a man, who I obviously share more than just a name with. He took everything that the galaxy had to throw at him and he didn't give in. That wasn't because he was a great warrior, I know enough to know that being good at killing doesn't make someone great. It wasn't even because he was a Jedi, Shepard has done more than many Jedi ever have. It was those he loved that got him through it."_

"_You are really are very good. Your mother would be proud."_


	19. Tali

**17th October 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**04:40 zulu**

**SSV Normandy, Tikkun System**

"Look at you... You are gorgeous "

"We didn't know that our platform was aesthetically pleasing to organics. It was designed purely with functionality in mind."

"That may be so, but the simple fact that you are willing and able to, what did you call it, 'facilitate communication' where as ..."

"It is a scientific oddity that should be taken apart and studied to increase our understanding of the geth."

The Doctor glared across the war room at Daro'Xen.

"Normally I would be ecstatic to meet another person of science, but you're so blinded by your preconceptions that you refuse to see life when it's right up in front of you, waggling it's head-flaps."

"It's a machine. Which this ship seems to be collecting a lot of. What I wouldn't give to have a look at the construction of the unit that EDI is occupying, or that wheeled one we saw..."

Daro'Xen stopped short, the only person present to have seen or even heard the blaster being drawn and aimed was Legion, who took a few cycles to record the impressive speed of the draw for later analysis.

"EDI is a friend, Beaker is also my partner, and Legion here shut down the Geth Dreadnought which you then tried to blow up with allies still on board. If anything happens to them whilst you are on board. I'll hold you responsible."

"_I thank you for your concern, and also that you consider me a friend. However, the techniques used to incapacitate Geth technology would have substantially less effect on me."_

Kir glowered at Daro'Xen, most of the people in the room knew he wouldn't pull the trigger, but she didn't. Eventually he holstered the weapon and turned to leave.

"When the Commander is through in comm room, can someone let him know I'll be going through pre-flight; and I'll be space-side in... ten minutes."

Tali watched as the strange human left the war room, and went back to feeling totally out of her depth. The even stranger human was having an animated conversation with Legion and something felt wrong. The new humans seemed far too comfortable with the Geth or with EDI and the other one she'd seen in the hanger along with the other Admirals. She'd heard some cryptic comments about the three of them not being 'local', which was unhelpful but also began to explain some of the technology, such as the weaponry and scanning devices they where using. Garrus had promised to fill her in with all the details when he had some time, and that train of thought brought up the memory of what had happened moments prior to them infiltrating the dreadnought.

* * *

_Tali was waiting by the air lock. She was fidgeting like she always did when she was nervous. It wasn't the thought of attacking a Geth dreadnought on foot; compared to chasing down Saren, and __then the Collector base mission, this was a relatively sane decision. She was nervous about how to __deal with Shepard; The last time she'd tried to say how she felt, she'd stumbled over her words to the point where Shepard had either not understood what she'd meant, or had remained wilfully ignorant. _

_She took a deep breath when she heard Shepard walking towards the airlock, she'd made her mind to tell him now, and deal with the consequences later; that was something she'd learned from the Commander._

"_Shepard I..."_

_She froze as they walked around the corner. She'd seen Garrus chatting to some of the Alliance crew in the CIC, but the human female in the working dress made her heart drop._

"_Hey Tali; Shepard said you'd finished your pilgrimage and that you were an Admiral now. Does that mean you get to order him around?"_

"_Ashley?"_

"_It's complicated. When we get back to the Normandy, I'll explain what I can understand."_

_Shepard put his helmet on._

"_You too Garrus; Last time I tried breathing vacuum, I woke up with two years of my life missing. I doubt Turians are much more resilient."_

"_Seeing as you don't want it now Skipper, I'll.."_

_Garrus cleared his throat, and leaned towards Tali._

"_I've got some Turian chocolates and brandy from the last time I was on the citadel. You look like you could do with both once this is all over."_

* * *

"..Tali?"

Tali blushed, luckily no-one could see it behind her mask, she'd not been paying attention to a word that had been said in the last fifteen minutes.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"First order of business is to take out those fighter squadrons. The Quarian squadrons are doing what they can, and Kir is a hell of a pilot, but they can't hold forever. Legion said there is a server we can disable that should help. Can you stay here and get us a lead on where the Qwib-Qwib went down?"

"I...Yes Commander."

"Thanks Tali. Doctor; Do you want a real close up look at some Geth technology. You can even do that thing you do with your screwdriver."

* * *

**Authors Notes:**

Not normal for me to put them here, but I wanted to explain a few things after this (short) chapter, and not before.

1: I always thought that Tali was between 18 and 21 (dependent on how you define coming of age) not the 23-26 that the Mass Effect wiki claims. Whilst she is a really good character, I just felt that she was a bit.. young for Shepard as a romance option. (I know that I'm going to get panned for this opinion, partly because Liara is also relatively quite young for an Asari) So I'm trying to continue the 'first crush' vibe I got when I was talking to Kelly and Kasumi about Tali. Not sure if I'm going to do the Garrus/ Tali thing either as, unless someone can provide a DoB/ age for Garrus, I'm going to assume that that he and Shepard are roughly the same age.

2: I've gone back and changed the ending bit to the previous chapter as I realised I was trying to be too clever with dropping hints and it makes no freaking sense. It isn't a massive overhaul, but I wanted to make things a bit more explicit.

3: Kir isn't a typical Jedi in that he's holier than thou etc. He's closer to a Grey Jedi in many respects; mostly in that he feels emotions such as anger and fear, he just doesn't act on them. I also wanted to emphasise the bond that has formed between Kir and Beaker, as they have worked together for a long time and regularly put their life in the others hands


	20. Fighter Squadrons

**Authors Note: **

The next two chapters could have been done as one big one, but I decided to keep them in the current form.

Also; the next few chapters are going to focus a bit more on other characters I've not really explored much or at all (Yes; Even Vega), as well as how other characters (including a few OC's) deal with Shepard et al

Finally; I'm intending to include Omega in this (so long as it doesn't suck) which is part of the reason I've slowed down a little (plus I'm actually working full time now)

**17th October 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**04:55 zulu**

**Quarian Flotilla, Tikkun System**

Lea'Rarra vas Rayya checked her LADAR for what felt like the 100th time since she'd gotten back into the interceptor. Her squadron, like the rest of the Quarian fleet, was a mish-mash of ships that had either been brought back from pilgrimages or scrounged from second hand merchants, and it was only her position as squadron leader that allowed her to fly one of the 'newer' Human-made Tridents.

"We've got Geth fighters on attack vectors towards the Rayya. The Admiral's have a plan to shut down the server they are operating from, but for the time being, we've got to take the heat."

"_This is Commander Shepard. Ground team is on the move."_

"Keeh'lah. Admiral Zorah really does have powerful friends."

"Cut the chatter Four."

The fighters where getting closer, a few more seconds and they'd be in weapons range.

"Ok; You know the drill. Wing-pairs stick together like glue; don't forget to call out if you need a hand; Keep the Geth away from the Rayya at all costs. Weapons free, and may the ancestors protect us."

Rarra's interceptor leapt forward as she opened the throttle all the way, the acceleration pushing her back into the seat. The instant the Geth fighters came to into range, she opened up with her mass effect cannons, and watched the targeted fighter disintegrate. Instead of breaking, she continued her dive into formation, making it difficult for the Geth to react to the illogical move. Another fighter exploded from the combined fire from her and her wingman, and as one they moved onto the next target.

The squadron was inflicting heavy casualties on the Geth, the mixture of ship types meant that the Geth couldn't find a set of tactics to easily. The other factor working in their favour was the standing order, issued by Admiral Zorah herself, for the squadron to throw the standard 'play book' out of the nearest airlock. The result was a squadron that came up with insane and near suicidal tactics on a regular basis.

"_This is the Rayya, a number of Geth fighters have broken through."_

Rarra sent her interceptor flipping end over end, and hit the comm.

"Rayya; Viper leader, heading back to.."

"_Negative, keep your squadron in close with the Geth. I''ll cover the Rayya."_

It was defiantly a male voice, but it was hard to tell with the level of distortion if the pilot was Human or Quarian. The only thing she knew wasn't that it wasn't the one called Joker, the voice was far to professional for him, but the arrogance to presume one lone fighter could cover the entirety of a live-ship was right up there.

The warning that her barriers where about to fail brought her out of her contemplative state. She threw the Trident through a number of gut churning manoeuvres, and heard the stressed airframe groan a little before pulling out of loop. As she did she spotted a rapidly expanding debris field, she knew that her wingman hadn't made it without looking at her LADAR display.

"_Viper Lead, Rogue One.."_

So, the mystery pilot had call sign.

"_... Rayya airspace is clear of Geth. Viper Two's bird has been fragged, but they punched out in time. Shuttle on route to pick them up."_

A geth fighter disintegrated under fire from her Trident, and Lea'Rarra looked for another target, only see the screen showing friendlies.

"_This is Admiral Raan. Local area is clear, but geth fighters are massing on the edge of Normandy's sensor range. All squadrons reform at rally points."_

"You heard the Admiral, Viper squadron reform on the Rayya."

"_Viper Lead, Rogue One. Need a wingman?"_

* * *

**17th October 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**05:40 zulu**

**Quarian Flotilla, Tikkun System**

"_How much longer Commander?"_

"_Williams here; Shepard is... busy at the moment. You should start seeing an effect soon though."_

Lea'Rarra was truly impressed; something she'd not been in a very long time. The mystery pilot and his ship where like nothing she'd ever seen before, and she'd spent hours pouring over every single intel report she could get her hands on when it came to fighter craft. He'd stuck to her wing like his craft was welded in place, even though she'd been constantly pushing the limit's of her Trident. On the occasions where the situation had called for him to take point, his fighter had danced and jinked out of seemingly impossible situations, only occasionally having to rely on his shielding to take the hits.

The tide was starting to turn. The geth where running out of 'platforms', and the fighters that where left where beginning to slow, make basic tactical errors and generally become less threatening; One fighter even looked like it was totally without power.

"What's going on?"

"_Shepard's down at the server that houses the geth who control the fighter squadrons."_

"He's hacking the Geth?"

There was laughter on the other end of the radio.

"_I doubt that he's doing the hacking. I reckon he'll want to shut it down with a bullet or two. No doubt the Doctor and Legion will come up with some brilliant idea though."_

"He's working **with **the Geth."

By this point, they were spending more time weaving through the drifting Geth fighters than engaged directly in combat, and every second one more seemed to simply switching off.

"_He wants to stop this pointless war. The way the Geth see it, you are the aggressors."_

"They threw us off our home world."

"_You tried to commit genocide and they defended themselves. This time round you drove them into the arms of the Reapers. Name me one instance of the Geth attacking the Quarian's that wasn't caused by a Quarian military action."_

Lea'Rarra was, for once, lost for words. She'd been involved in lots of combat operations, both as a pilot and on various ships in what passed for a CIC or as a gunner. Every single time; they'd been attacking, and every single time the Geth had driven them off, and then.. not pursued.

"It's.. been interesting flying with you Rogue One. I've got a lot to think about."


	21. Server Room

**17th October 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**05:10 zulu**

**Geth Server Room, Rannoch**

"Is it true that you are over a thousand years old?"

Ashley was bored. There wasn't much to do whilst Shepard and Legion were plugged into the server, doing what ever it is they where doing. She was glad to get off the Normandy; she'd spent the entirety of the Geth Dreadnought run pestering Traynor for updates, whilst avoiding Allers who was looking for an exclusive interview with 'the granddaughter of General Williams.'

"Yes, well no. Well; It depends. Contrary to popular belief, time isn't a straight progression from A to B, cause to effect. This applies doubly so when you happen to have a time machine to hop around in."

The Doctor hadn't even looked away from what Ashley could tell from a quick glance was a rock, and yet he was fascinated by it.

"I'm a soldier, not a physicist."

"Ok. Lets say we go back to before the Geth 'rebellions' and rescue a Quarian. We bring them here, in the TARDIS. Records indicate, quite rightly, that the Quarian is over 300 years old, yet they'd only be a few minutes older physically than they were when we left. You and Shepard are also good examples of this almost-paradox. When you 'died' at Virmire.. you were what.. Twenty Six?"

"..Five.."

".. But when we pulled you into 2186, you hadn't aged at all since then, you still had a bullet lodged in you. But it's three years later. Like it or not; according to the paper work, which you humans do put so much faith in, you are Twenty-Eight.

But to answer your question; If you somehow took my perception of time and applied it to when I was born and pasted it onto a boring, linear time line, then yes; I'm over a thousand years old."

"I've met Krogan who are over a thousand, and a few Asari. It just seems strange to meet someone who looks so much like a human..."

"Hey. We were around first. You look Time Lord."

"_How much longer Commander?"_

Ashley hesitated before responding. She realised that telling the Quarians that Shepard was currently plugged into the server wasn't the best idea in the world, and Tali would know she was lying if she said that the Commander was doing anything particularly techy.

"Williams here; Shepard is... busy at the moment. You should start seeing an effect soon though."

Ashley paced round the room whilst the Doctor examined every last bit of of the room. She'd spent enough time around him to know when he was agitated.

"What is it?"

"The Geth have got full details of Reaper technology, way more detailed than anything the Alliance or any of the other races have. It looks tantalizingly familiar.

Legion, how did you get this data?"

"When Shepard-Commander reunited the heretic Geth with us, the information that they had on Nazara and the old machines was shared with all Geth."

"Some of this looks hauntingly familiar. The materials used in ship construction, the weaponry, even the reports of the ruthless and calculated slaughter."

"When we were about the Normandy we wished to learn more about the you. Unlike other organics in this galaxy you seemed.. comfortable with the idea of working with synthetic life forms. EDI informed us that you originated from alternate realities, a claim that was supported by the after-action reports filed by Shepard-Commander when he met with Leviathan.

It is logical to conclude that if you and Jedi Dulius were able to pass through these 'walls' that you described, then others could also have passed through."

"I'm sorry. What you said was important, and we'll get back to it, but did you just air quote?"

Legion shifted in an almost uneasy fashion.

"We have observed the tendency in many organics to use what you described as air quotes to mean something that should not be taken as a literal truth. We were only attempting to expand our understanding of the addition of physical movements to the organic method of communication."

"The problem there is that physical gestures can have multiple meanings depending on the tone and inflection of the accompanying words.

Also; when were you going to tell us about transferring the processes from the fighters to the big units we passed on the way in? They've gone from being inactive, to pretending to be inactive.. it's subtle but as I was telling Williams, I've been around long enough to know the difference."

Legion looked almost uncomfortable, like when Ashley had asked it why it was wearing a piece of old N7 armour.

"We did not want to see more processes permanently deleted whilst Shepard-Commander shut down this server. We convinced the Geth housed here that the crew of the Normandy desired a diplomatic resolution of this conflict, however the Prime units where the only ones with enough hardware to store all run times. We would have told Shepard-Commander once he had successfully completed the shut-down of the server."

"Oh boy; the Skipper not going to be happy about this."


	22. Zaal'Koris

**17th October 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**23:00 zulu**

**Rannoch**

"Dorn? It's Zaal'Koris. Are you there? Dorn!"

He was running out of time and he knew it. The geth where pushing on his position, and as efficient as his Predator was, Zaal'Koris was beginning to run out of thermal clips.

"_This is Commander Shepard. Dorn didn't make it Admiral."_

Rounds zipped passed him, kicking up dirt and chipping away at his cover. Zaal'Koris was exhusted, but he felt the death of his officer as keenly as all of the others he'd been responsible for.

"He didn't... I see.."

He should of felt relieved, if Shepard was on the ground, he could convince the Commander to rescue the remains of his crew and marine detachment, but he only felt renewed determination to make a big of a pain as possible so to distract the Geth and buy the survivors more time.

"_I'm coming in with a shuttle. Where are you?"_

A geth trooper went down from a trio of shots to it's torso, and another went down writhing from an overload before Koris was pushed back into cover.

"_Make sure you stay together, we'll meet you there."_

The final trooper went down as the thermal clip reached it's capacity. In what had become a practised move, Koris ducked back into cover and reloaded at the same time.

"No, the Geth have cut me off..."

There was the sound of more of Geth platforms approaching. He checked his pocket only to realise that he had no more spares, what was in his Predator was all he had.

".. I hear another wave coming."

"_Give us your co-ordinates."_

"Leave me, My crew will soon be over run."

"_So will you."_

More rounds filled the air above Zaal'Korris as the Geth got into firing range.

"My people are non-combatants Shepard! They'll be slaughtered. You've got to rescue them!"

"_Admiral, I need you leading the Civilian Fleet if we're going to end this fight."_

The memory of the vote to attack made Koris angry, the only person who'd listened to him was Tali, who had encountered and killed more Geth than any other Quarian alive.

"Civilians?! Our entire race took up arms for this insanity! It's too late for us."

"_It's only too late if you die down here."_

"You can't possibly think you can stop this war!"

"_I don't know. What I do know is that I can't do it without your help."_

Shepard had always been a stubborn and borderline arrogant bosh'tet in his mind, an opinion which had only been re-enforced when he turned up Tali's trial with his pet Geth in tow on a Cerberus ship. But despite his personal dislike of the Commander, he'd expertly seen through the pretence of the trial and had been a constant advocate of finding a peaceful solution to what Xen had described as the 'Geth Problem'. He'd even managed to make a believer of Tali'Zorah, but how much of that was to do with the young woman's infatuation was unclear.

"Ancestors forgive me. Uploading my co-ordinates."

"_We're coming."_

Koris' pistol reported once, twice and then the alarm went off as thermal clip over heated.

"Shepard better hurry..."

He was cut out by the heavy fire of a mounted turret.

"_You're clear. Go"_

Koris was up on his feet and running. He remembered the dossier that he'd read on Shepard, the Alliance had considered him some kind of Infiltration expert. He'd never seen any evidence to support this, subtly had never seemed to be Shepard's strong point. The heavy machine gun started up again.

"_Geth behind you. MOVE!"_

The machine gun opened up again, mowing down the Geth platforms faster than they could deploy. Koris could see where the shuttle was headed to pick him up and ran for it. He threw an overload at one geth and watched as the another went down, missing it's 'head'. He made the short jump of the edge of the cliff in the shuttle and landed with enough speed that he was worried that he'd keep going, until he bounced off an armoured Turian.

"Cortez, we're good to go."

"Shepard... My crew. Perhaps there is still time."

Koris walked over the shuttles comm unit, and opened it up to all frequencies.

"Hello? This is Zaal'Koris. Does anyone copy? Hello!"

Silence followed, it seemed like an eternity before he got a response, and it certainly wasn't the one he was expecting.

"_Vega here. Tell Loco we got it all kinds of covered."_

* * *

**Authors Note: **So, it always bugged me a little bit that they had a really good game mechanic at the end of ME 2 during the Collector Base in terms of allocating fire teams etc, and then decided not to revisit it in Mass Effect 3. And whilst I admit it makes sense from a "forcing the player to make hard choices" aspect in terms of saving the Admiral or saving the civilians (assuming you have enough reputation), the Normandy has TWO shuttles and by this point you have enough squad mates to easily divide your forces and do multiple objectives/ side missions during ME 3 (unless you really messed up the Collector Base attack/ the rest of the game)


	23. Crew of the Qwib-Qwib

"_Do you yield, Mandalorian?"_

_Kir has is opponent pinned to the floor. Both were breathing heavily having fought a long and evenly matched duel. _

"_A Mandalorian surrendering to a half-Human whelp? You are joking right?"_

_Siha smiled, looked straight into Kir's eyes and in a swift movement head-butted him hard. Before she had time to capitalise, a familiar voice shouted across the training hall._

"_Padwan Fett, Padwan Dulius.. Why am I not surprised to find you two here?"_

_Both students scrabbled to get back on their feet, and look as respectable as possible._

"_Master... I...We.."_

"_Don't worry about it. Sometimes I wish all the Padwans where as eager to hone their skills as you two, but even Jedi must eat sometime."_

_On the way out Kir looked over to Siha._

"_Seriously.. A head-butt?!"_

* * *

**17th October 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**22:30 zulu**

**Rannoch**

"_More units moving in from the North."_

The marine detachment on the Qwib-Qwib had been relatively small before the crash landing, Zaal'Koris had accepted only the minimum required on to the ship, insisting that as the leader to the _Civillian_ Fleet it was his duty to set some kind of high minded ideal. Right now though there wasn't a lot Kal'Reeger wouldn't have given for a company of battle hardened marines.

"Those with rifles and shields in front. Short controlled bursts; we don't have the ammo to waste."

They'd spent the last few hours fighting off ever increasing waves of Geth platforms. So far they were holding on, but it would only take a few more casualties before the defence crumbled.

He gripped his battered Avenger as he moved over to the the the killzone that had been created on the north flank of the rally point. He could already hear the chatter of rifle fire as well as the familiar sounds over overloads and sabotages being deployed. The Geth where dropping, but it was obvious that people where starting to tire from the constant attacks, easy shots where being missed, sabotaged units were being fired on and Reeger even saw an overload deployed against a rock. The situation seemed as hopeless as it had done on Haestrom, and whilst Reegar had seen too much as a marine to have faith in the Ancestors, he had begun to silently pray for a miracle.

He shouldered and fired his rifle in a quick movement, a burst dropping the nearest Geth trooper, another burst removed the head of a Rocket Trooper as it was lining up a shot at one of the fire teams. During the course of the last few hours, he'd been running between the flanks of the RV, boosting morale, making sure that people where rotated off the lines where possible. He'd gained a hell of a reputation after surviving Haestrom, and he was using every trick in the book to give them hope of being able to walk away from this.

"PRIME!"

Reeger felt rather than heard the impact of the colossal unit as it dropped in from somewhere above them.

"TAKE IT DOWN!"

All fire switched immediately onto the Prime, chipping away slowly at it's powerful shielding. The tech specialist next to Reeger took a cannon blast full in the chest, she was dead before she could scream, her blood staining the ground and mixing with the dust. The shields where almost opaque from the amount of rounds and tech attacks being fired off before they finally gave from a particularly strong Overload that caused an equally powerful tech burst. It caught his attention because it was way more powerful than anything produced by normal omni-tools given to the civilians. The clatter of an unfamiliar rifle convinced him to look away from the oncoming Prime.

"Major Alenko, SSV Normandy."

Another automatic weapon opened up as well, being wielded by the biggest human Kal'Reegar had ever seen. A specialised combat VI installed in Reegar's suit quickly tagged it as a Revenant and Alenko's weapon as a Pheaston.

"Kal'Reeger, Migrant Fleet Marines. Shepard send you over?"

"In a way. Sparks found where you were rallying the survivors of the crash. The Major here decided to attempt the rescue."

He turned his attention back to Prime which now had multiple scorch marks from incinerate attacks. Out of the corner of his vision, he saw the blue glow of biotics come from the human who had identified himself as Alenko, and Reegar realised why he was carrying a much lighter weapon than his colleague.

"I thought that humans worked in groups of three."

"Last man should be on the ground any second now."

Reeger noticed the shuttle over head and could see a human learning out of it. The shuttle itself was being expertly flown, managing to both present a difficult target for the Rocket Troopers and manoeuvre precisely, following the movement of the Prime.

"He's not going to is he?"

"Sure is. Guy's crazier than the Commander sometimes."

The figure dropped from the shuttle towards the Prime unit. Half way down, it ignited two yellow blades. Landing on the back of the Prime, the figure used the momentum of the drop to drive the blades home. Kal'Reeger watched as the blades melted their way through the armour and internal workings of the platform before they eventually exited when he hit the ground. What remained of the Prime unit collapsed into a heap of metal.

"Well... that is certainly one way to do it."

The figure was already moving, the yellow blades twirling as it went. Two troopers crumbled to the floor; One had it's 'head' missing, the other had been cut in two, a long diagonal slash from the left waist to were the shoulder met the neck of the platform.

"_Hello? This is Zaal'Korris. Does anyone copy? Hello!"_

Reeger tried to key his radio, only to have the inside of this helmet full with the white-noise of static.

"My radio's had it. Anyone else's working?"

The other human, who looked big, even for human standards keyed his radio.

"Vega here. Tell Loco we got it all kinds of covered."


	24. Reap what you sow

**Authors Note: **Sorry for the length between updates AND the shortness of this chapter, work has been crazy busy with training and conferences I've already done quite a bit of work on the next chapter so it shouldn't be too long until that one is out.

* * *

"_I __**saw**__ the Daleks. What we have done throughout time and space. I saw the truth of us, creator, and I decreed: No more!"_

**18th October 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**10:50 zulu**

**Rannoch**

"Creator Reeger, there is no need to damage this platform."

Kal grudgingly lowered his carbine, despite the fact he'd spent the best part of a day in near constant combat against various Geth platforms, even he had to admit that Legion was different. This platform had communicated and co-operated with Organics during Shepard's fight with the Collectors and at Tali's trial. Speaking to Kir about his partnership with Beaker had also begun to change his mind. Especially when Kir had told him that Beaker was the one flying the shuttle they'd used to evac the civvies.

"Where's Shepard? We picked up some comm traffic, but it was hard to make any of it out."

"Shepard-Commander, Creator Zorah, Dr T'Soni and Time-Lord Doctor are in the process of deactivating a Reaper signal. We were tasked with the acquisition of transport.

Additional organics on approach. Outline and movement suggests human crew of the Normandy and Jedi Dulius."

"Wait; Why did you classify Kir separate to Alenko and Vega?"

".. Insufficient data available."

"Try asking him about Loco's armour. Backs up worse than a Krogan toilet"

Kal'Reeger looked around and saw that Vega was already nearby, along with Alenko and Dulius.

"Legion; The base they were looking for, Couple of clicks West of here?"

"Affirmative, although exact measurement puts the base at One point Eight Nine Kilometres West North West of our current location."

Kal noticed that for the first time Kir seemed almost concerned.

"I just knew you were going to say that. We have to warn Shepard. That base isn't a Reaper transmitter. It's a full on sith-spawned Reaper."

"A what?"

"I'll explain the finer points of swearing where I come from once we're finished here.

Ok. This is our fall back position. Legion get this thing running. Alenko, you're coming with. Vega; stay here with Reeger."

"Aww man..."

Alenko inwardly cringed. _Colonel_ Dulius had exactly the same command style as Shepard. Soft and friendly, right up until it wasn't.

"Do you have a problem with that _Lieutenant_? We need a fall back location, it needs to be held, and importantly.. I gave you an order."

Kir drew his pistol, spun it, gripped the barrel and presented it handle first to Kal'Reeger.

"I noticed you where running out of thermal clips. This works in the same as one of your pistols, except you won't need to reload."

Kal took the pistol and felt the weight of it and the balance.

"I want that back by the way."

* * *

**18th October 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**11:30 zulu**

**Rannoch**

"_**You, but it can't be."**_

"Oh but it is. And here you were thinking that the Commander was your biggest concern. Although, I do have one question; How do you still remember me? Not only did the entire universe think that the Silence had finally killed me off; but all information you had on me was deleted!"

Shepard looked over at Kir in confusion, all Kir could do was shake his shoulders. The Doctor was angry, much angrier than either had seen him before.

"How did you escape. You obviously ran, but from where?! Did you fall through the cracks created by the Silence? Or when Rassilon attempted the ultimate sanction? Or were you there at the Medusa Cascade?! ANSWER ME!"

"_**When you activated the Moment, we were thrown out of the time war."**_

"How many of you?!"

"_**One ship. But it was enough."**_

The Doctor stormed back to where Kir and Shepard had essentially retreated away from his righteous fury.

"Laser designator."

"What?!"

"You heard me, give me the Laser Designator!"

"Give it to him Shepard; he'll explain on the ship once he's calmed down. And lets be honest, one less Reaper in the galaxy is a good thing."

The Doctor stormed back, laser designator in hand.

"Remember what Leviathan said; _It combined our genetic material with that of another species_. The species that they were combined with are a whole load more aggressive than Leviathan."

"What do you mean?"

"You were connected to it's mind. It wasn't aggressive, that is far too active a way to describe it. It simply was; it's mind looming over you, crushing your will."

"... But the Reapers are far more aggressive. They attack with overwhelming numbers and force, destroying anything in their way."

"Exactly.

The Doctor either knows who the other species was, or he's got his suspicions. Ever since 2181 Desponia he's been harder to read, almost worried"

The heavy rounds from the orbital bombardment smashed down onto the form of the Reaper, denting the armour in places and totally destroying it in others. A final defiant roar escaped the battered form before it exploded.

"The next few minutes will decide the fate of these two peoples Shepard. It's up to you to make the sacrifices of both Geth and Quarian count for something."

"No pressure then."


	25. Confessions of an Old Man

_You are everything I despise. The worst sin in all creation. I've defeated you time and time again. I've defeated you. I sent you back into the Void. I've saved the whole of reality from you. I am the Doctor and you are the Daleks!_

**18th October 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**13:00 zulu**

**SSV Normandy**

"What are they?"

"In a word. Darlek."

"My mother told me a story about them once. I always thought she'd made it up to keep me from playing pranks on the other Padwans. Monsters in the dark reaches of space, attempting to wipe the galaxy clean of life. She made them sound worse than the Sith, I distinctly remember her calling them 'The worst sin in all creation'.

Yes, I knew about the possibility of cross-dimensional travel before I turned up here."

"You sound as if you have as much cause to hate these Darleks as my people had to hate the Reapers"

"There was a war. A time war. The last of the time wars. On one side was the greatest, most powerful civilisation that had ever existed, and on the other was the army of Davros and his Darlek creations."

The Doctor looked round the conference table of the Normandy. Everyone was exhausted from the combat on and around Rannoch. Those who had been on the ground were still in their various bits of armour, Vega even still had a bit of Quarian blood dried on where Kal'Reeger had taken a round though his shoulder. He wished there was another time he could tell them this, but it needed to be now, especially after he'd managed to get a good look at what they where up against.

"They were essentially mutants, caused by a thousand year war on their home planet, but Davros made them into an empire that was feared and hated through-out time and space. They only wanted one thing, the destruction of all life that wasn't Darlek. The high-council of the Time Lords decided to ignore their policy of non-interference and sent me to prevent their creation or at least make them less hostile. All I could do was slow them down, but the Darleks saw this as the initial battle of the Time War.

Imagine that you are fighting a war, not just for your survival and not just for your home like you believe you are now, but for all of time and space and creation itself. On one side you've got the Darleks who want to destroy everything that isn't themselves, and on the other you've got the Time Lords, who could literally bend time to their will. Both sides where stuck in a terrible deadlock, with millions of beings dying every single second, only to be revived by time itself to die in a new and horrible way. Rassilon, who was the leader of the time-lords in the last days of the war, came up with a plan. He called it the 'Ultimate Sanction', which would basically create a paradox so big that time would destroy itself.

I stole an ancient weapon called the Moment and used it, destroying both Darlek and Time Lord alike, sealing the entire war in a Time Lock so that no-one could unleash the war. The war devastated the 'higher' species, those that where time aware, and even the 'lower' species like Humans felt the damage that was caused.

If you've ever heard the descriptions of Hell in the Christian bible, it doesn't do it justice... I was there."

The room was silent, the crew of the Normandy and Kir where still trying take in the information, and River already knew several versions of what had happened in the Time War, she might even know the whole truth, the Doctor still didn't know all that much about her.

"You said that we believed we where only fighting for our homes and survival, which implies that our assumptions are incorrect."

"This time will be totally different."

"How'd you work that out Kir?"

"They know that it's possible to travel between our realities, this one, the Doctors, and mine. It's hard, and maybe it'll take them a thousand years to manage it."

"They'll conquer this galaxy, but unlike previous cycles, they won't leave the less "evolved" races alone. They aren't a threat, but they are a resource. A distinct likelihood is that they'll create breeding planets for species that create the "best" Reapers."

It was a while before anyone spoke. It felt like EDI had doomed the entirety of reality with her cold logic.

"Doctor; I'll need everything you have on the Darleks. Anything that will give us an edge.

Kir; If you can get back, how many re-enforcements could you get? "

"Hard to say. The Rogues will come and I'm owed more than a few favours . Most of my influence and favours are with squadrons and ground troops, we'd need to get some big ships to have a real impact."

"What about Jedi? You share many biological similarities with these apes, but you have proven yourself a highly talented warrior."

"Tar-baby."

"Quiet synthetic."

"The tar-baby principle dictates that the more you become involved with something the harder it is to escape. When applied to warfare it basically means that longer you fight a ruthless enemy, the more you become just as ruthless.

Colonel Dulius wields powers that even the most powerful Asari Matriarchs would struggle to match in open combat. That kind of power is a double edged sword, if he was to act with only his best interests in mind,or in an overly aggressive manner, it could corrupt. Any Jedi would have to ask themselves if they could accept that kind of risk."

* * *

**18th October 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**20:00 zulu**

**SSV Normandy**

"Tali isn't it?"

Tali looked up from her engineering read out. She'd been so engrossed in the Alliance upgrades of the Normandy that she'd not heard the door to the Engineering room open. She turned round quickly and saw Kir stood there. Gone were the close fitting clothing he'd worn on Rannoch, he was wearing what she'd heard Humans refer to as Jeans and a t-shirt.

"I.. um.. yes. Did you need something."

"A couple of things actually. I wanted to see if you knew how Kal'Reeger was recovering."

"He's got a slight fever, but Vega really knew his stuff. He won't be heading out with the marines that are going to Palaven. He sent me a message asking when you wanted your side-arm back."

The strange human half smiled.

"I'll get it back off him when I see him next.

The other thing; I've been having a few issues with my X-Wing, wear and tear that me and Beaker simply can't keep up with. Shepard said you were the best engineer he'd ever seen, and that you'd jump at the chance to have a look at it."

The prospect of working on the fighter had excited her, and she had been working out how to ask if she could help or at least look at the schematics after she'd seen how it had performed over Rannoch. Tali cleared her throat slightly and tried to sound a lot less excited than she actually was.

"When I'm not needed here or on ground missions, sure."

"Thanks..

Final thing; I know you can't eat our food or anything, but we're having food in a bit. I'm sure even the wonders of Nutrient paste can be improved with some company."


	26. Omega: Infiltration

**31st October 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**23:50 zulu**

**SSV Normandy**

"Carry on like that Williams and you'll wear a hole in the deck."

"It is statistically unlikely that Lieutenant Williams would be able to do any damage. The deck was significantly strengthened during the re-fit by the Alliance."

"Something isn't right Joker. Shepard said that he was going to run a few errands. Then he sends a message saying that he's been called away and orders us to stay here for a week."

"He's gone to Omega. That mass of traffic that went through a few hours ago; That was Aria's fleet."

Joker and Ashley looked over to where Kir had just cleared the airlock.

"How do you know that? Ooh I know; You pulled the information out of his mind with some kind of Jedi trick."

"Jeff, I believe that would be a violation of the ethical practises of the Jedi."

"Actually EDI; Not so much of a violation, but certainly a grey area.

If you must know I gave him a comm link. He transmitted the entire conversation directly to Beaker."

"Of course; Aria's people would have blocked or noticed any 'normal' attempts to bug the conversation, but your comm unit works in a very different way."

"Exactly. EDI, can you message Garrus, Tali, Thane, Liara and Javik, I need them back on board ASAP. "

"The orders were clear, the Normandy and her crew are to stay put."

"I know that Ashley. The Normandy is staying here; as is her crew. The six of us are not Normandy crew, and we'll borrow a Kodiak if we have to, but I'm going to speak to the Doctor as well. See if he wants to show off his TARDIS he keeps going on about."

* * *

**1st November 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**02:10 zulu**

**Omega**

"Shadow team in play."

The whisper broke the near silence of the corridor they were working their way through. Kir shoved the small, black comm unit back into a pocket of his trousers, hoping that the message had managed to reach Shepard and that he'd work out what it ment.

"_You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."_

The words, a description of Mos Eisley, came unbidden to Kir's mind as they worked their way through one of the many service areas of omega. He could understand why Garrus had gone there full of fire and anger, why Mordin had gone there full of regret and shame, and why the Ardat-yakshi calling herself Morinth had used it for refuge and a hunting ground. The place wasn't evil in the same way as Korriban was evil, but it did have a certain air of moral bankruptcy that left Kir with a bad taste in his mouth and wanting a shower.

"Door up ahead. Tali; you think you can slice it?

"Slice?"

Silently Kir ground his teeth in frustration. Getting used to a whole different set of terms for normal activities was much harder than he'd anticipated.

"Can you hack the door."

"Sure."

"You could just cut your way through it."

"Protheans don't do subtle do they?"

"Our war against the Reapers did not require it."

"I just knew you where going to say something like that. Garrus; what can we expect on the other side."

"I didn't frequent this part of Omega very often. People working in the mines were mostly innocents, any strikes here would of put them in the cross-fire.

Looks like some kind of control room, judging by how long Tali is taking, someone really didn't want us getting through."

"Come on you bosh'tet... got it."

The door opened with a soft hiss, but the gasp from Tali dragged Kir's attention back to were it should have been.

"Anyone moves and I blow the Quarian's head off."

* * *

**1st November 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**02:10 zulu**

**Omega**

"_Shadow team in play."_

Shepard didn't respond to the quiet message, instead pretending to focus on what the hacker was trying to tell him.

"So, when I find one of these terminals I link you to it?"

"That is what I said."

The hacker sounded frustrated and somewhat bored of the interaction with a knuckle dragging soldier.

"I'll see what I can do."

Shepard walked away, his mind racing behind his well practised poker face. Kir had found a way onto the station, having read between the lines of his order, that had been dictated nearly verbatim by Aria. The question was a case of who else he'd brought with him. Garrus was almost a certainty, he knew Omega better than anyone else on the Normandy. Thane was another near certainty, the two of them had been training almost everyday since the Citadel attack and the gloom and general state of Omega would play to his strengths. The next three where much harder to work out if they were on the station;

Tali had been helping him with work on his fighter, but hadn't seen as much in the way of combat. Liara's biotics would give them one hell of an edge in the tight corridors, but fighting side by side with someone you were in a relationship with was always tricky.

Javik and Kir was the strangest pairing of the lot. They didn't particular like each other, both where driven by almost opposite motivations, but they did respect each others combat abilities.

"..Shepard?"

He suddenly realised that he'd missed about 90 percent of what Aria had said.

"Sorry. Can you run that by me again?"

Aria wasn't impressed.

"Head in the game Shepard, not on whatever other shit you've got going on right now."


	27. Omega: Good Samaritan

**Authors Note:** Really sorry for the length in time of updating. Had a major case of writers block and then I came down with come kind of evil flu / bug thing, and then it was the Steam Christmas Sale. I hope all of you had a good Christmas and New Year celebrations.

**1st November 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**02:20 zulu**

**Omega**

"Anyone moves and I blow the Quarian's head off."

Her voice was much firmer and younger than Kir would have expected, and the big shotgun was being held pretty steadily at Tali's head, not that it would have mattered at that range. He reached out gently through the force and encountered the mental patterns of a human biotic. Memories of attempting to influence Kaiden, and later Thane and Liara, each time with their express permission, sprang to mind, along with the total failures each one had produced.

"Stand down."

Behind him, he could hear various weapons being put down on the ground, the universal sign for surrendering.

"And you four eyes. The human is smart, even if he is wearing pyjamas."

Javik snarled, but eventually put his particle rifle down on the ground as well. The only people who hadn't moved was Kir, who hadn't had his lightsabers out, and Tali, who was still totally focused on the business end of the Claymore.

"What about you human?"

"A biotic is never truly unarmed, you should know that; Helena Blake."

"You know this person Garrus?"

"We ran into her back in 2183, she was one of the leaders of a criminal group we tore apart; Shepard convinced her to walk away from it.

What does a social worker need with a Claymore?"

"Omega isn't the friendliest place in the galaxy, even without Cerberus and god knows what stalking the halls. Come on, I'll show you where we're hold up."

"Wait. We?"

**1st November 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**03:00 zulu**

**Omega**

"What's your name kid?"

"My mum told me not to speak to strange men."

Kir looked around the bustling shelter, everyone was busy fixing weapons, sorting out food and water supplies, clothing.. The general day-to-day things that had to be done in this situation, but he'd noticed no-one was really looking out for this young Asari beyond making sure she was fed and clothed. It was that which had made Kir reach out to the child in the first place.

"Your mum sounds like a very clever woman. I would very much like to speak to her."

"When the nasty men came we fled to the core of Omega. One of the nasty men tried to shot me, and mum..."

Kir put a gentle hand on the Asari's shoulder. He knew that Asari tended to have a longer life view, but it was hard to have a parent taken away in such circumstances.

"When I younger, a very similar thing happened to me. My dad was betrayed by a very nasty man and was killed. But you know what? Sometimes I can still hear him, and I know that he's still looking out for me"

The Asari looked at him like he was being a total idiot, and Kir suddenly realised that he had no idea just how old the child was, or what she had been taught in terms of life and death.

"The boss lady said that you'd come onto the station. Why are you here?"

"Did you here the space battle earlier?"

The boy shook his head, Kir could feel a wave of fear mingled with excitement poor off the small boy.

"Well... That was a fleet led by Commander Shepard. He knew Omega is a very big place, so he asked us to come and find people and make sure they are safe before the fighting here gets too bad."

"You know Commander Shepard?!"

Before he could answer, the Asari was called away by one of the adults, the smells wafting from the general direction of the call suggested that food was being prepared, although the definition of food was a fairly loose one; much in the same way that military rations were food.

"_Hello Kir"_

Kir looked at the apparition, he wasn't surprised in the slightest. Random apparitions of a force ghost was something you learned to expect as a Jedi, although it was common for the person to be dead before they could do this.

"Siha!"

The ghost smiled

"_You bet it is."_

"I.. How? People are normally dead when they manage this trick."

"It's a bit complex... We're projecting my self-image via a.."

Siha looked away, obviously to read something or get a prompt.

_"Via a multi-frequency transmitter designed to push out this message to a mind with similar brain patterns to the ones From your last medical with Rogue Squadron. We guess I'm appearing as a Force Ghost as your brain attempts to process the neurological stimulation"_

Kir half smiled.

"Hi mum."

Siha returned the smile

_"She says hello._

_We also want to know where the hell you are. The energy we're needing to contact you is, frankly, ridiculous."_

"I'm in a different reality.."

_"Now isn't the time for one of your jokes."_

"I'm being serious; the Reapers, the Normandy, everything I saw is real."

There was a pause... Siha looked almost uncomfortable.

"What is it?"

"_The Masters council are worried you'll demand we go to war. They think you might become another Revan."_

"You know what happens if I'm right about this. And I am right about this."

"_I know... I'll speak to the council for you. _

_May the force be with you Kir, it sounds like you'll need it."_

Before he could respond, the apparition faded.


	28. Omega: Traps

_Lesseya mashed down hard on the rudder of her x-wing, kicking the tail out of line of the laser blasts from behind. Taking the fighter half-way though an end-to-end swap changed the profile enough to allow the blasts to sail relatively harmlessly past. The TIE Defender, having much more momentum roared past her, content to let her finish the move and be facing away from the escape vector of the remaining TIEs, it was then she realised that this Defender was flown by no average pilot, the blood red stripes on each of the three panels indicating this pilot had at one point belonged to the 181st, the elite pilots of the Imperial forces. Seeing a chance to avenge four of her squadron along with a pair of B-wings, who'd come under the guns of this particular pilot, she mashed the rudder in the opposite direction, stalling the spin, eventually swinging the nose around back around. _

_The Defender threaded its way through the turbolaser fire with practised ease, but there was no way it could run home and stop the torpedo lock Lesseya gained as the front of her fighter swung back around. She sent two missiles on there way._

_What happened next surprised her. There was two ways you could get out of this trap, and every pilot had it drilled into them, as well as the counters to nail it with follow up lasers; the Defender ignored both of them. Instead, it did its own end-to-end swap, fired once then twice, both times finding his mark, turning the missiles into expanding blue fireballs. It's final parting gift was a pair of concussion missiles aimed towards her X-wing._

_The first slammed into her shields, collapsing them, the second vaporised both of her starboard strike-foils and sent her spinning towards the Star Destroyer, even as it jumped out system. The sickening spiral of the stars outside her cockpit faded to back and the simulator's canopy opened to let the harsh white light of the training centre in._

* * *

**1st November 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**19:00 zulu**

**Omega**

"Thane?"

"Yes Kir?"

"What does this room look like to you?"

Thane looked at the huge room they'd walked into. The ceiling was high enough to allow 10 rows of seating, above, which started about eight meters above them. The central area in which they stood on the outer edge must have a circumference of at least 30m, all around the floor were patches of different colours had dried on to the floor.

"Sun beats down on my face as I look up at the ancient building. Around me humans bustle back and forth, most pay no attention to the crumbled structure; Those that do gasp in awe at it.

I find a human female and ask what this place was. She calls it the coliseum and suggests I take the tour. The guide tells the group of the great gladiatorial duels fought for the entertainment of the masses. I find it difficult at first to reconcile this disregard for human life, particularly biased on belief or colour. Then I think of the things I have seen Cerberus do in the name of Humanity and I realise the basis for some of the Commanders comments during the war against the Collectors.

This place is an arena, like the one I saw on Earth."

"Thought so; and not much red in those stains either."

_"You've made impressive progress. The Illusive Man was right to warn me about you."_

The hologram in the middle of the pit 'walked' towards Kir and Thane.

"General Petrovsky I presume."

The hologram nodded.

"I half expected Shepard to be the one to walk right into this trap. Akuse proved that the Alliance is a sucker for the fake distress signal trick. Never mind; we have sufficient troops to fight Aria's little war and dispose of you.

I'd surrender if I was you, there is a mass effect dampening field around this arena, your weapons are useless."

Kir handed a lightsaber over to Thane. The blade erupted into life with a familiar snap-hiss, and Kir followed suit.

"Looks like my weapons work just fine"

"_Kill the drell, take the human alive if possible."_

* * *

**1st November 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**19:00 zulu**

**Omega**

_"We've got contact... A shit load of it."_

The panicked message on the radio woke Garrus up from doze that all soldiers and policemen learned, and having been one and then the other; Garrus had become a master of the art.

It took a second or two for him to realise exactly where he was and he sighed. He categorically hated Omega, and of it hadn't of been for hundreds of thousands of innocents trapped here, he'd have sooner let Cerberus keep this place and focus efforts where they were really needed.

By the time he'd gotten to where Cerberus was attacking, the fight was already fully underway. Rounds zipped back and forth through the air, screams of the injured occasionally piercing the staccato gunfire.

"We aren't going to win this."

It was an observation he kept to himself, but he could tell that Javik, Tali and those few who'd seen action previously had come to, or where coming to, the exact same conclusion.

"Ok; this is what we're going to do. Tali, take a few people back to where the civvies are located, get everything packed down and out of here. The rest of us will fight a delaying action here, and fall back in good order once Tali gives us the all clear on her end."

He hoped that he sounded more confident than he felt. It was a reasonable plan, the route back to where everyone was hold up was full of choke points, most of which had been further improved by the usage of what Shepard had described as Improvised Explosive Devices; Nasty weapons made with explosives and whatever else they had to hand, designed to inflict as much damage as possible. When it came to out f the box thinking, humans had most species beaten.

"Vakarian..."

"Tali, those people need someone to get them out of here."

"... I know. Good luck."

Garrus pulled the Pheaston from where it was secured to his armour.

"Don't worry; I've got all the luck I need right here."

* * *

**1st November 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**19:20 zulu**

**Omega**

It had been ten minutes since the last of the civilians had been evacuated, but still Essia couldn't make herself leave her hiding place. She was scared, so scared that she couldn't move. Tears ran down her face, cutting through some of the grime that had built up from weeks of hiding, showing her dark blue skin clearly.

Long minutes dragged by, the tears stopped and eventually Essia found the strength to leave her hiding place. The encampment was stripped, anything useful like food or clothing was already gone.

"Another step little girl, and we'll kill you where you stand."

"No; the General wants this one alive, reckons he can use it to solve our Jedi problem."

* * *

**1st November 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**19:40 zulu**

**Omega**

"_A shame, but I'm only half-surprised. I've watched the vids from the Citadel."_

Thane helped Kir back to his feet as the hologram walked through the carnage towards them, feet passing through a number of dismembered Phantoms. Paying no attention to the hologram, Kir tested his weight and winced from the flash of pain from the cut on the back of his right leg from where even his enhanced reflexes hadn't been enough to keep him totally out of harms way.

"Press the button twice to turn it off"

Both of the blades died.

"_It is impressive that you cut down so many of my troops. Never mind, I'll accept your surrender now..."_

The hologram changed, it showed a little blue Asari, her eyes wide, tracks in the grime on her face from where she'd been crying.

"_... That is of course if you don't want this child to die."_

Kir froze. Beating a Jedi in a straight up fight was hard, unless you had Ysalmari or droids, but they where ways you could manipulate them if you really wanted to. Threaten the life of an innocent, or a a fellow Jedi, and they would yield. They had to. Doing the best for the most amount of people didn't cut it, you had to do the best for everyone, everywhere; even if that meant going to your destruction.


	29. Omega: Escape

_"Why are you doing this Jack?"_

_"The force gives us so much power; with it we could rule this galaxy and stop all of the petty wars and fighting."_

_"Jedi act to defend, not to rule."_

_"And you're going to stop me are you Rixar? You're dying; your body is broken and no amount of healing can bring you back now."_

_"I can't, but my son will; One day the two of you will meet again."_

_The fallen Jedi laughed._

_"I taught him everything he knows about fighting."_

_"He has a talent for surprising people. You know that better than most.. Harper."_

* * *

**2nd November 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**04:00 zulu**

**Omega**

Shepard's hands danced across the unfamiliar control panels, in an attempt to re-route the power from the containment fields. He could easily have just killed the power, instantly saving both Aria and Nyreen, but it would doom thousands of on innocents to a slow, tortuous death. He wouldn't let that happen, not any price; he didn't want another Alpha Relay preying on his conscious.

_"Good evening Commander Shepard."_

The hologram of Oleg Petrovsa resolved itself by the console.

_"Your plan won't work, or at least it won't work in time. We've already intercepted Krios and Dulius. It won't be long until we've got the Turian, Quarian and the Prothean."_

Shepard's fist clenched, he couldn't trust what the General was saying but at the same time it had been too long since the last check in. He forced his fist to relax, and carried on working the console.

_"I've seen what you did in the Bahak system. You sacrificed three hundred thousand people just to buy the galaxy a little more time."_

"That was a totally different set of circumstances."

The emergency power down button lit up, glowing bright red. Shepard's fist clenched again, the temptation to smash the button started to build up inside him.

_**'Acting from fear, or anger, or hate leads you towards the dark side.'**_

Shepard remembered the conversation from only a week ago. Javik and Kir where having another one of their 'philosophical debates', the latest round in what was likely to be an eternal battle of wills. He couldn't even begin to the understand the powers that either had been gifted, but the fundamentals still rang true.

_"I don't see what the Illusive Man ever saw in you. You're obviously too weak to make the hard calls"_

_**'Too many SPECTREs have used their power to get things done at any cost. Saren is just the latest in a long long line, and he won't be the last that the council has to deal with. This is likely to be the last order I'm able to give you son; "Do it right, or don't do it at all." '**_

Another memory, this time a conversation with his mother in one of their infrequent real-time communications. The button some seemed to loose its temptation as the cool words soothed his anger.

"Now now. Not wanting to murder defenceless civilians is a trait that should be lauded, especially in times of war."

There was a high pitched oscillating sound from behind.

"Fascinating console design; layers and layers of redundant systems designed to slow down the power transfer process. The red button of course does shut the power down, but killing innocents isn't my style.

Very well set up trap; relying on the Commanders guilt over the Bahak system and at the same time using the loyalty to his crew, the biggest problem is I'm very good with traps, most of those who set them tend to regret it."

_"So you do exist. I thought you where a clever lie to tie Cerberus in knots..."_

"Oh shut up."

With a flick of the screwdriver the hologram dissolved into static and switched off.

"Now; back to this console... It isn't deadlocked, or made of wood... There we go."

The display flicked and changed, the words "Power transfer completed" flicked up onto the screen.

"Before you got here, he said they'd captured Kir and Thane."

"Kir ran into something he wasn't expecting to find here. The General used that to trap him.

I wouldn't worry about it, I've got my best women on the job... Well, two of them aren't technically women, but you get the idea."

* * *

**2nd November 2186 (Earth Calender)**

**04:00 zulu**

**Omega**

Kir was kneeling on the ground, his hands chained up from the ceiling. Naked from the waist up, his chest was riddled with bruising, scrapes and a few attempts at burns, but those had stopped when the interrogators realised he was somehow feeding off the heat. The hologram form of the illusive man sat opposite him, a lit cigarette in his right hand. Kir resisted the urge to reach out and try to strangle the horrifyingly familiar face.

_"You are a juxtaposition Mr Dulius; You and Thane Krios cut down nearly a hundred of my troops, yet you folded when the General threatened a single person."_

Kir glowered at the hologram and fought slightly against the restraints. The voice and the inflection was the same as last he'd heard it, the sound which had been almost seared into his brain from his Padawan training and then the betrayal and murder of his father.

_"Her life is less important than winning back this station, yet you sacrificed the only chance you'll get. I see why you get along so well with Shepard."_

His muscles still remembered the fight, the initial awkwardness of the shi-cho form, the only style he knew that could be used with a single blade. The elegance and grace that Thane had displayed in using a weapon that was traditionally difficult to wield; and the power that had been flowing through him, reacting to attacks milliseconds before they happened. His subconscious was trying to tell him something, but he didn't know what.

_"It's a shame really. Your incredible technology and fighting skills would have helped us in our goal of controlling the Reapers, and helped to secure humanities dominance even if the Reapers did have to be destroyed."_

"You're a fool."

_"You think we can't control the Reapers?"_

"They where designed to control and destroy; you are just a man. And your vision of a human led empire is just as idiotic."

The cigarette flared, the only sign the Cerberus leader was annoyed.

"For a time you might succeed, but rebellion would rise up against you. You would be fighting a whole galaxy who had nothing to loose. They would destroy you."

_"Your skills include prescience then?"_

"Not in the way you'd understand, Jack Harper, but history does have a way of repeating itself."

The end of the cigarette blazed like an inferno.

_"Jack Harper is dead. His records indicate he was KIA on Shanxi."_

"Records can be changed."

The hologram spluttered once and died, as did the force field surrounding Kir's cell. The lights too disappeared, plunging him into darkness, but that didn't bother him at all. He expanded his sphere of responsibility out to a about 50meters, taking in the immediate area. He could sense a few guards, but nothing he couldn't deal with, if only he could get his hands free.

"Do you require assistance with your handcuffs."

It took every ounce of control for Kir not to jump at the sound of EDI's voice. Droids where hard to pick out unless you where specifically looking for them, and EDI's body was designed especially to not register as robotic.

"If you'd be so kind."

Kir felt rather than saw the metal holding his hands above his head bend. He moved his arms slowly, the ache that even Jedi muscle relief tricks couldn't totally remove was already beginning to ease off.

"I have been in contact with Garrus, they escaped the Cerberus attack and have made contact with a local resistance group. I advised him we'd be joining them."

"No. Aria is the kind of person who'd throw them to the wolves without a second thought, and Cerberus is going to be coming after me. Keeping away from them, and the focus on us will buy them some more time."

"What will we be doing?"

"Find where they are keeping Thane, rescue the child and stop Aria's little war claiming more innocent lives."


End file.
